# How did Minnesotans diverge linguistically from "duck, duck, goose" to "duck, duck, grey duck"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 10, 2017, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450 "2017-10-10T08:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/1 "2017-10-10T08:23:24Z")
This mystifies me. I also wonder why (in god’s name, _why_), but that is probably beyond the scope of GQ. If you are from one of the other 49 states, please read this from today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune: > **[Hey, Kyle Rudolph: Around here we say, 'duck, duck, gray duck'](https://www.startribune.com/hey-kyle-rudolph-around-here-we-say-duck-duck-gray-duck/450175853/)** > > The first half of the Vikings/Bears game was the equivalent of taking three melatonin pills at kickoff, and the second half was a barrage of five Red Bulls trying to shake off the fog. It was a weird, stupid game in many respects — with the weirdest... And no, this is not some kind of joke. My wife, a native Minnesotan, told me about this years ago, much to my puzzlement. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/2 "2017-10-10T13:12:23Z")
I don’t know the origin but my guess is that one person got really confused and the idea stuck. My bet is that is it was started by someone related to Rose from the Golden Girls. Saint Olaf, MN had lots of bizarre stories according to her. I am only partially kidding. I am from rural Louisiana and we have sayings that are almost unexplainable to outsiders as well. The idea of calling a goose a “grey duck” just sounds really funny. The local Scandinavian population may have just struggled with translation and people there just stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/3 "2017-10-10T13:50:04Z")
I’m a native Minnesotan (Duluth area). We always played "Duck, Duck, GOOSE! Never heard of the gray duck version. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/4 "2017-10-10T13:55:55Z")
Southwest MN native here - never played the game at all. However, there was a large debate in the refectory/dining hall one day at college, where the out-of-staters were completely confused by the concept of ‘grey duck’ while in the in-state folks were sure the others didn’t understand color. I was mocked for not even being aware of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/5 "2017-10-10T14:00:44Z")
I had to google the game which I had never heard of under any name. It seems vaguely related to the game we played call tag. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/6 "2017-10-10T14:08:07Z")
I grew up in Connecticut, where we played duck, duck, goose in grade school. (Tag generally needs a big space to spread out, but this game could be played in a classroom, if you cleared some space.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/7 "2017-10-10T14:15:02Z")
Funny thing is, I was actually wondering if they were doing “duck, duck, goose” or the Minnesotan “duck, duck, grey duck” when I saw the celebration. Now I know. I was really hoping it was the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/8 "2017-10-10T14:25:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Funny thing is, I was actually wondering if they were doing “duck, duck, goose” or the Minnesotan “duck, duck, grey duck” when I saw the celebration. Now I know. I was really hoping it was the latter. Is this about the Vikings end zone celebration last night? I thought the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/9 "2017-10-10T14:45:52Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Is this about the Vikings end zone celebration last night? I thought the same thing. That does seem to be what inspired it. (My thoughts were something along the lines of correcting the announcers when they said they were playing “duck, duck, goose.” I was like, “No! They’re from Minnesota! It’s duck, duck, grey duck.” Alas, the sportscasters were right.) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/10 "2017-10-10T14:48:39Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > This mystifies me. I also wonder why (in god’s name, _why_), but that is probably beyond the scope of GQ. The true origins are probably lost to time, but my understanding is that one of the swedish names for the game is Anka, Anka, Gås, which translates to Duck, Duck, Goose. Another swedish name, though incredibly less popular, is Anka, Anka, Grå Anka, or Duck, Duck, Grey Duck. So this really only moves the search back a step but my suspicion is that at some point in Minnesota’s history, members of the swedish community who knew it as Anka, Anka, Grå Anka moved to Minnesota and their version became the local dominant version. I think the whole debate is silly but Duck, Duck, Grey Duck is objectively more aesthetically pleasing to hear and is therefore the correct choice. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/11 "2017-10-10T15:01:53Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I had to google the game which I had never heard of under any name. It seems vaguely related to the game we played call tag. Same here on both counts. To add: I’m from NYC. But so is my wife, but from this weird and exotic place Brook Lynn, and she occasionally will come up with maddening discrepancies similar to OP. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/12 "2017-10-10T15:33:50Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > The true origins are probably lost to time, but my understanding is that one of the swedish names for the game is Anka, Anka, Gås, which translates to Duck, Duck, Goose. Another swedish name, though incredibly less popular, is Anka, Anka, Grå Anka, or Duck, Duck, Grey Duck. So this really only moves the search back a step but my suspicion is that at some point in Minnesota’s history, members of the swedish community who knew it as Anka, Anka, Grå Anka moved to Minnesota and their version became the local dominant version. > > I think the whole debate is silly but Duck, Duck, Grey Duck is objectively more aesthetically pleasing to hear and is therefore the correct choice. Based on my own experience as a native Swede, neither version of the game existed in Sweden some 40 years ago, so I think both “Anka, Anka, Gås” and “Anka, Anka, Grå Anka” must be translations of the (American) English versions. What we _did_ play was the more tumultuous version where we didn’t sit in a ring nor run in circles, rather just try to touch each other (or hit each other with a thrown ball) while freely running around, thereby rendering the turn to the person hit. This game was called _datten_ (from Swedish “du ä’t” = “you’re it”). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/13 "2017-10-10T15:52:05Z")
Not to be confused with the college drinking game “Duck, duck, Grey Goose.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/14 "2017-10-10T17:21:41Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > What we _did_ play was the more tumultuous version where we didn’t sit in a ring nor run in circles, rather just try to touch each other (or hit each other with a thrown ball) while freely running around, thereby rendering the turn to the person hit. This game was called _datten_ (from Swedish “du ä’t” = “you’re it”). That’s what we call “tag” in the US. Or simply “it.” (As long as it’s played without a ball. There’s a game called “dodgeball” which would be something like that, except getting hit by the ball makes you “out,” not “it.”) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/15 "2017-10-10T18:56:47Z")
This starts out as conventional Duck Duck Goose [Family Guy - Duck, duck, goose - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVmMyIDOkuU) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/16 "2017-10-10T19:51:03Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Not to be confused with the college drinking game “Duck, duck, Grey Goose.” I was going to say, they must call the vodka Grey Grey Duck. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/17 "2017-10-10T21:00:25Z")
It’s so weird to me. Seems like the “surprise” word should also be monosyllabic. And who’s to say the other ducks aren’t also grey? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/18 "2017-10-10T21:04:31Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It’s so weird to me. Seems like the “surprise” word should also be monosyllabic. And who’s to say the other ducks aren’t also grey? As noted earlier, I never played the game - but my understanding of the MN version is that they call other colors “red duck, black duck, green duck, grey duck!”. I am undoubtedly wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/19 "2017-10-11T21:14:52Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > As noted earlier, I never played the game - but my understanding of the MN version is that they call other colors “red duck, black duck, green duck, grey duck!”. I am undoubtedly wrong, though. The origin story I remember (but can’t find a cite for) is that there was one Minneapolis elementary school teacher back in the last century who changed the classic “duck, duck, goose” to the version you cite, as a way to help her students learn colors. It then expanded from her classroom to the Twin Cities in general, but it’s at best metro-area thing, certainly not a Minnesota-wide phenomenon. The thing is that, as far as I know, the game isn’t played with other colors. It’s just “duck, duck, gray duck.” ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450/20 "2017-10-11T21:57:17Z")
> [@Ispolkom](#): > > The origin story I remember (but can’t find a cite for) is that there was one Minneapolis elementary school teacher back in the last century who changed the classic “duck, duck, goose” to the version you cite, as a way to help her students learn colors. It then expanded from her classroom to the Twin Cities in general, but it’s at best metro-area thing, certainly not a Minnesota-wide phenomenon. > > The thing is that, as far as I know, the game isn’t played with other colors. It’s just “duck, duck, gray duck.” It’s not just the metro. People in my Facebook feed from Duluth and the Iron Range do “duck, duck, goose”, it’s true; but all of western MN and ND seem to be “grey duck” folks. (Note that the author of the Strib article is from Grand Forks, North Dakota, over 300 miles from Minneapolis-St. Paul.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-minnesotans-diverge-linguistically-from-duck-duck-goose-to-duck-duck-grey-duck/798450.md?page=2)