My mother called me a wood duck the other day and then refused to tell me what it meant, probably because everyone who heard was just about rolling on the floor laughing. I asked a few people and those that didn’t laugh all gave me different answers. So, does anyone know what a wood duck is when it’s an insult?
If I had to guess, I would say it had something to do with a decoy. Wood, fake and painted just to attract the real things with no mind of its own. shrug
CandyMan
FWIW The phrase is commonly used as a derogatory term in the context of the share market to describe small investors.
I suspect that it may to be related to ducks habit of being serenely oblivious to signs of potential disaster and then when the shit hits the fan, erupting in a panic trying to get away.