It seems, though, that "duck tape" precedes "duct tape".
For many of such errors/misunderstandings/etc., there's tons of examples, rivalling the number of the Eskimo words for 'snow', for which, like eggcorns or snowclones, you'll enjoy searching www.languagelog.com.
Gaffers
really? I was laboring under the assumption that duct tape was designed to tape up ductwork, but hey, I guess I'm wrong apparently it is to further handicap the ducks one shoots in the barrel; can you say whack-a-molé?
My understanding is that duck tape was made from duck cloth, not the same as Duct tape with super adhesive. Duck tape did indeed come first.
mark
under the heading just de fax m'am, jes de fax:
My understanding is that duck tape was made from duck cloth, not the same as Duct tape with super adhesive. Duck tape did indeed come first.
mark
under the heading just de fax m'am, jes de fax:
check it out it has lots of intreesting factoids from:http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues/wbi050813.txt do an edit/find for duck."Duck tape" is a trademark of Henkel Consumer Adhesives, dating
from 1982, who sell it under that name in several countries. John
Kahl, the CEO of the firm, has been reported as saying that his
father chose the name after noticing that "duct tape" sounded like
"duck tape" when customers asked for it. (The collision of the two
"t"s in the middle of "duct tape" causes the first one to be lost
by a process called elision.) The term "duct tape" has never been
trademarked, though several compound terms that include it have -
it looks as though it had become generic before anybody thought of
registering it. Apart from a one-off instance in the Oxford English
Dictionary of "duck tape" from 1971 (which looks like a case of the
"duct" - "duck" elision), I can't find "duck tape" in the adhesive
sense until the 1980s.
My view is that the original name was "duct tape", given informally
to it by heating engineers post-war, and the "duck tape" version is
elision in rapid speech, later capitalised on by a manufacturer.
But, as things stand, nobody knows for sure
Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb
-
- Great Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 2578
- Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
- Location: Crownsville, MD
This Wikipedia article claims the original WWII name was Duck Tape.
Regards//Larry
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee
Ducts vs ducks...
I took glassblowing (from tanks of molten glass under a 2400° gas flame, kids, not those little fish and pianos you find at midways) where we recycled clear glass Miller bottles. Although they were hard to come by on campus. Yessirree, miiiiighty hard to come by... but I digress...
One day we found that a brand spanking new fire marshall had made a guerrilla (gorilla?) raid overnight and shut us down. Literally. Just pulled the plugs and locked the door--an incredibly unsafe move on his part. His written report explained that he didn't like our overhead ducks. Not just one duck, mind you. Every duck in the flocking report. Skeptic that I am, I wondered aloud whether he had ever opened a single textbook, and how he had passed the tests I'd like to think he was administered before being sprung on an unsuspecting world.
If only we'd been thinking ahead! A few strategically-placed rolls of Duck Tape might have thrown him off our tail.
-gailr
I took glassblowing (from tanks of molten glass under a 2400° gas flame, kids, not those little fish and pianos you find at midways) where we recycled clear glass Miller bottles. Although they were hard to come by on campus. Yessirree, miiiiighty hard to come by... but I digress...
One day we found that a brand spanking new fire marshall had made a guerrilla (gorilla?) raid overnight and shut us down. Literally. Just pulled the plugs and locked the door--an incredibly unsafe move on his part. His written report explained that he didn't like our overhead ducks. Not just one duck, mind you. Every duck in the flocking report. Skeptic that I am, I wondered aloud whether he had ever opened a single textbook, and how he had passed the tests I'd like to think he was administered before being sprung on an unsuspecting world.
If only we'd been thinking ahead! A few strategically-placed rolls of Duck Tape might have thrown him off our tail.
-gailr
Last edited by gailr on Wed Jul 26, 2006 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1476
- Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
- Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval
Invertebration
{Also related to Frank's immortal Chinese menu thread}
Seen on an local Jamaican restaurant site:
"Anntony's specializes in Zhena's Gypsy teas. Zhena is a bonified gypsy (sic) residing in California..."
I guess she drives a hard bargain...
Seen on an local Jamaican restaurant site:
"Anntony's specializes in Zhena's Gypsy teas. Zhena is a bonified gypsy (sic) residing in California..."
I guess she drives a hard bargain...
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
-
- Grand Panjandrum
- Posts: 1476
- Joined: Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:58 pm
- Location: Carolinia Agrestícia: The Forest Primeval
Too hot to hoot?
On a morbid note, same topic-
Dale Hausner, one of the Phoenix serial killer suspects today somehow set up a news conference (sans attorney) during which he ran off a laundry list of weapons he owns:
"... blowguns, various stabbing weapons, ice picks, owls, stuff like that..."
Awl righty then...
(seen on Countdown, MSNBC)
Dale Hausner, one of the Phoenix serial killer suspects today somehow set up a news conference (sans attorney) during which he ran off a laundry list of weapons he owns:
"... blowguns, various stabbing weapons, ice picks, owls, stuff like that..."
Awl righty then...
(seen on Countdown, MSNBC)
Last edited by sluggo on Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots! Knife no one, fink!
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- Lexiterian
- Posts: 457
- Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
- Location: Cambridge, Mass
- Contact:
Maine humor
Well, if you're going to play lets talk about Bangor, Maine.
Most folks not from around here call her, the Queen City, Banger.
We locals, lived there a long time, not a native, reply, "Bang-her!? I didn't even know her!"
It is pronounced, Bang-Gor... no I don't know where the extra "G" comes from, but I have found it is best to pronounce thing the way the locals do. When Kennedy was in Berlin and declared himself a pastry, he endeared himself. However, this rarely happens with locals.
Eric
Most folks not from around here call her, the Queen City, Banger.
We locals, lived there a long time, not a native, reply, "Bang-her!? I didn't even know her!"
It is pronounced, Bang-Gor... no I don't know where the extra "G" comes from, but I have found it is best to pronounce thing the way the locals do. When Kennedy was in Berlin and declared himself a pastry, he endeared himself. However, this rarely happens with locals.
Eric
Last edited by eberntson on Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
EBERNTSON
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
Fear less, hope more;
eat less, chew more;
whine less, breathe more;
talk less, say more,
and all good things will be yours.
--R. Burns
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- Lexiterian
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- Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:59 pm
Re: Maine humor
"I'm a jelly donut", says the tale, though according to this website it's not true anyway.When Kennedy was in Berlin and declared himself a pastry, he endeared himself.
Not that I'm a big Kennedy fan (nor was, even back in the day), but truth will out. Irregardless and notwithstanding: einmal Berliner, immer Berliner.
-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"
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