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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:35 pm
by anders
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.
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:25 pm
by Bailey
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:
"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
check it out it has lots of intreesting factoids from:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/backissues/wbi050813.txt do an edit/find for duck.
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:51 pm
by Stargzer
This Wikipedia article claims the original WWII name was
Duck Tape.
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:26 am
by gailr
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
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 11:07 am
by Bailey
This Wikipedia article claims the original WWII name was
Duck Tape.
the 'original' was cotton tape, made of duck cloth. Not used for Ducts.
mark
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:55 pm
by skinem
Sigh...
Our preacher this morning repeatedly said "...solid as a block." Several times.
I guess I could tell him and prove to him that I do actually listen!
Invertebration
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 2:31 pm
by sluggo
{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...
Too hot to hoot?
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:33 am
by sluggo
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)
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:47 am
by gailr
I dunno, sluggo. I've come across plenty of writings linking owls to [gasp] the occult. And you know all them occultists is killers...
-gailr
using nonstandard English for satire
submerged
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:47 pm
by sluggo
ESPN interviewer (Rome): "I know it's water over the bridge now, but..."
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:56 pm
by skinem
Water over the bridge is a really bad thing.
Heard this over the weekend "Half of none, six or a dozen of the other."
Makes perfect sense.
Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:02 pm
by gailr
I came across a comment about someone's "consolation price". (Not sure if she was in therapy or on a game show...)
-gailr
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 7:45 am
by skinem
I came across a comment about someone's "consolation price".
-gailr
...usually what the car dealer offers me.
Maine humor
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:47 pm
by eberntson
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
Re: Maine humor
Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:58 pm
by Palewriter
When Kennedy was in Berlin and declared himself a pastry, he endeared himself.
"I'm a jelly donut", says the tale, though according to
this website it's not true anyway.
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