Perhaps as a child you dropped sticks into a river? In those idyllic childhood days it always seemed we had a friend who also dropped their
stick and thus we had stick races. Later fathers and especially uncles, took over the game and instead of sticks they introduced posh ducks. Most likely this desire for bigger and better ducks was fuelled by
competition between brothers who had now grown up and used their children to continue their rivalry.
An incredible 250,000 plastic ducks took to the water in 'The Great British
Duck Race'. The event was held on the river Thames at Molesey Lock,
near Hampton Court Palace, (London). The stretch of river was
cunningly selected so that it took about 2½ hours to
drift down the one-kilometre course.
As usual, each duck was sponsored for a charity, and the winning owner
received £10,000. The prize fund generously stretched to include the
next 29 ducks to finish. It costs £2 to adopt a duck, and the event
could raise as much as £200,000 for charity. As far and Will and Guy
know, 'The Great British Duck Race', is the largest charity duck race in the
world. However, we have not had reports from all the 18 other
countries who hold similar sponsored duck races.
We have to say that a plastic duck race is a fun way to involve a community in
fund raising. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of our funny duck pictures.
Urban Myth - A 'Ringer' Plastic Duck
It was reported from an unsubstantiated source that the plastic race in a
certain big city in America had to be abandoned when someone tried to
substitute a 'ringer', a plastic duck with a tiny outboard motor.
While a miniature motor in a duck is far-fetched idea, we once heard of a
plastic duck filled with baking powder and a tiny hole at the rear.
The idea was that the baking powder would react with the water to produce
carbon dioxide, which would propel the 'ringer' faster than the rest.
The problem was that when filled with backing powder, the duck was much
lower in the water the rest and soon drew attention. The other problem
was that there was no way of controlling the direction the duck was
propelled - unless you installed a radio controlled rudder!
I have seen ducks follow farmers Wellington boots, but I have never before seen a picture of duckling following a dog. I cannot help
thinking that this picture would be a good sign for a pub called the Dog and Duck.
Just in case you think it's the man the ducklings are following. Wrong - it's dog
that the ducklings have imprinted on, see dog and duck picture below.
A duck, named Bengbeng, [apparently translates as 'Silly'] has become a
celebrity for its singing, dancing and counting abilities according to the Dahe
Daily.
Its owner, Du Xinai of Xingxiang city, China, takes the duck with him when he
goes to the local agricultural market to buy vegetables each day.
This funny duck can be seen wearing a small red scarf and a pair of tiny shoes. (See
duck picture to the right.)
'If you ask him to sing, he quacks rhythmically while shaking his head and body.
He quite enjoys it. If you put up one finger, he quacks once, then twice with
two fingers, and so on.'
Du says Bengbeng is also a good citizen, and always waits for the traffic
lights. Bengbeng has become quite a star. Everywhere he goes, people
welcome him like a super star.'
10) Only in America - Duck Gets 'Order of Protection'
A pet duck named Circles, who was shot and wounded with a pellet gun, has
received an order of protection. New York introduced the protection law to
deal with domestic violence. This was the first time that an animal
has benefited from such an order.
What happened was that the duck Circles was in its owner's backyard when a
neighbour shot it through the neck. The duck was successfully treated by a vet.
Meanwhile, the neighbour was charged with animal cruelty, and at the arraignment
and Circles got an order of protection.
One amusing ritual for introducing friends to an Indian
restaurant, is to persuade the greenhorn to order a Bombay duck, and then
watch their incredulity when the waiter brings a dried fish. The
Bombay duck really is a fish, or to be completely accurate, a lizardfish,
which does indeed live in the waters off Bombay.
Seven Peking ducks were imported into the USA in from China in 1873.
Little did these entrepreneurs realise that these ducks would turn into a
$30 million industry farming and cooking their Peking ducks ancestors.
Incidentally, attempts to rename Peking duck to Beijing duck have been a
spectacular failure.
'Dabbling ducks' is a general name for a classic duck. The duck
you see in children's books, the mallard duck that you see at top of this
page and the Peking duck in the previous snippet.
The male duck is the drake, while the female duck is
the hen; their eggs hatch into ducklings. Will and Guy's favourite
collective name for a group of flying ducks, is a 'team of ducks'.
When they are on the water we call them a 'paddling of ducks.
However, everyone else seems to refer to them a 'flock of ducks', whether they
are flying, swimming, or on land.
In cricket, a batsman who is out without scoring is said to be out for a
duck. One 'wag' back in 1859 spotted that a 0 on a scoreboard
looked like a duck's egg.
'Lame duck' was originally an 18th century term for investors in the
stock market who could not, or would not, pay their brokers. Later in
1926 a Wisconsin newspaper, wrote the heading: 'Making a lame duck of
Coolidge'. Calvin Coolidge would be the first of many American
presidents to be saddled with the epithet - Lame duck president.
Here is an unusual word to throw into your conversation - anatine, it
means ducklike.
Duck Myths Busted
A duck's quack doesn't echo, is an enduring urban myth. However, this myth
was busted by the University of Salford, Manchester, England. When you
think about it, how hard is it to put a duck in a sound studio and turn on the
recorder. Result - the duck's quack echoes.
'Donald Duck was banned in Finland - for wearing no pants'. This
shows the power of hype, and the way in which mundane facts are exaggerated,
take out of context, and distorted. What happened back in 1977 was that
Youth Board in Helsinki decided not to subscribe to the Donald Duck comic.
As on off-the-cuff remark one of the committee members commented that Donald
Duck did not wear pants. The rest as they say is history - or in this case
internet mythology.
Footnote:
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