# Origin of duck, duck, goose **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185 "2015-12-11T19:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alviano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@Alviano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alviano)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/1 "2015-12-11T19:03:21Z")
Duck, duck, goose where and why did it come to be? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/2 "2015-12-11T20:16:43Z")
Oddly enough - I grew up in Canada and never heard of it until it was the $200 question on “Who wants to be a millionaire?” abut 12 years ago. It must be a regional thing? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/3 "2015-12-11T20:27:04Z")
**Moderator Note** Welcome to the SDMB, **Alviano** I have edited the title of your thread to more clearly indicate the topic. Please use more descriptive thread titles in the future. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/4 "2015-12-11T21:17:51Z")
I hear some weirdos call it “Duck, duck, grey duck”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/5 "2015-12-12T00:02:08Z")
I had never heard of it so looked it up and found full instructions [here.](http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Duck-Duck-Goose) With reference to variations they said this > [@](#): > > Minnesotans often claim the rest of the U.S. is playing the game all wrong, that Duck, Duck, Grey Duck is the original. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/6 "2015-12-12T01:48:26Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > I hear some weirdos call it “Duck, duck, grey duck”. The wonderful book Ramona the Pest, a novel for children, takes place in Oregon. The kids play “gray duck” IIRC. My Chicago-raised self could not understand that at all. Gray duck? GRAY DUCK? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/7 "2015-12-12T02:28:13Z")
San Diego 50’s kid here: Duck, Duck, Goose. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/8 "2015-12-12T04:34:31Z")
The basic format of “Duck Duck Goose” as a circle game, where one player who is “it” walks around the outside of the circle and randomly selects another player who then chases and tries to catch “it” before they complete another circuit, is very old. Other variants like “Drop the Handkerchief” are said to be millennia old. As for the origin of the specific variant “Duck Duck Goose” itself, Steve Rond’s [_Lore of the Playground_ says](https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=d-E9N-O8gCoC&pg=PA47) that > [@](#): > > “Duck Duck Goose” seems to have been introduced to British schools as recently as the very early 1990s, but it has a much longer history in North America and Australia, stretching back at least to a Toronto version collected by Edith Fowke in 1960. Again there is a mixture of adult-child and child-child transmission, but it seems likely that the former came first. Childlore researcher Simon Bronner, for example, has found several versions in American books aimed at PE teachers that pre-date the ones collected in the field, including _Physical Education Activities for High School Girls_ by Louise Patterson van Sickle (1928). ---
**Author:** ![AmanoJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AmanoJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmanoJ)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/9 "2015-12-12T10:46:42Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > The wonderful book Ramona the Pest, a novel for children, takes place in Oregon. The kids play “gray duck” IIRC. My Chicago-raised self could not understand that at all. Gray duck? GRAY DUCK? I’m in my early 30s, so it’s been a while since the schoolyard days, but I live in Oregon and have certainly never heard that version in any area I have been to (not ilke it’s a common topic of discussion, of course :P). Maybe just something tied to the author of the book(s) rather than the region? Or maybe I am just a sheltered goose. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/10 "2015-12-12T10:54:29Z")
It’s duck duck grey duck in MN. It’s like a secret handshake for a very select club. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/11 "2015-12-12T13:04:33Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > The basic format of “Duck Duck Goose” as a circle game, where one player who is “it” walks around the outside of the circle and randomly selects another player who then chases and tries to catch “it” before they complete another circuit, is very old. Other variants like “Drop the Handkerchief” are said to be millennia old. > > As for the origin of the specific variant “Duck Duck Goose” itself, Steve Rond’s [_Lore of the Playground_ says](https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=d-E9N-O8gCoC&pg=PA47) that I grew up in Toronto in the 1960’s and NEVER heard of duck duck goose. Sounds like a game we used to play where you sit in a circle, the “it” person circles the outside, and taps someone. then that person has to chase the it person around the circle and tag him/her before he/she gets back to occupy their spot. No ducks or geese. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/12 "2015-12-12T13:12:24Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I grew up in Toronto in the 1960’s and NEVER heard of duck duck goose. Sounds like a game we used to play where you sit in a circle, the “it” person circles the outside, and taps someone. then that person has to chase the it person around the circle and tag him/her before he/she gets back to occupy their spot. No ducks or geese. That’s the same game. Where the ducks and geese come in is in the ritual that the “it” player follows. When you’re “it”, you walk around the circle tapping each person and saying “duck”. But when you choose your victim, you say “goose” instead. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/13 "2015-12-13T22:01:05Z")
**Duck Duck Goose** was a longtime poster on SDMB who joined May 19th, 2000. DDG posted over 14,000 times but has not apparently visited the board in nearly 2 years. Beyond that, DDG’s origins are unknown to me. I miss DDG. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/14 "2015-12-14T01:19:10Z")
It was “goose” in Michigan in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/15 "2015-12-14T02:48:26Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > That’s the same game. Where the ducks and geese come in is in the ritual that the “it” player follows. When you’re “it”, you walk around the circle tapping each person and saying “duck”. But when you choose your victim, you say “goose” instead. I don’t remember any words that went with the game other than maybe “you’re it”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-duck-duck-goose/740185/16 "2015-12-14T03:56:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > **Duck Duck Goose** was a longtime poster on SDMB who joined May 19th, 2000. DDG posted over 14,000 times but has not apparently visited the board in nearly 2 years. Beyond that, DDG’s origins are unknown to me. I miss DDG. I also miss her.