Odd Ducks Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canvas duck

"Duck" refers to a type of canvas. Yet with the passage of time, it has come to be termed "canvas duck" rather than "duck canvas". In addition to being one of the two materials from which Levi Strauss made his first jeans, canvas duck was the material that covered Conestoga wagons. It is used today for everything from hammocks and shower curtains to sandbags and boat covers.

I might have asked for the canvasback duck's drug of choice. Surely it would have been marijuana since both marijuana and canvas have hemp as their source! From sites extolling the virtues of cannabis, one can learn to better appreciate the importance American founding fathers accorded to hemp (and hence indirectly to canvas duck). According to Thomas Paine, the colonists would triumph over their English oppressors because "hemp flourishes here". George Washington farmed hemp. Not only did Thomas Jefferson write in praise of hemp, but he also drafted the Declaration of Independence on paper made from hemp. (Could there be a hemp quiz in my future?)

Answer: gooey-duck

There are more American geoducks than people in the United States (an estimated 300 to 400 million). They live longer than we do, and American geoducks are all lucky enough to live in the Seattle area. (On the other hand, as adults they are unable to move and have no brains. Any comments extolling their suitability for political office would be unkind.) Of course, geoducks also live in Canada.

In both places they are harvested and sent to the Far East where they are expensive and in great demand - so much so that a geoduck could probably beat a human traveler to Hong Kong.

A geoduck picked up one morning in Vancouver could expect to be on a night flight and arrive in Hong Kong the following morning!

Answer: Canard

According to "Dictionary.com", "canard" is English for "an unfounded, false, or fabricated report or story". In French, canard not only means duck, but also "false news; hoax". A number of sources attribute this second meaning to a French saying, "vendre un canard à moitié".

This phrase is sometimes translated "to half-sell a duck" and sometimes rendered "to sell half a duck". Neither quite makes sense to this English mind.

Answer: German

I suspect we have not yet heard the end of the cold duck tail... er tale. An article in "Time Magazine" in 1970 reported that wine mixed from the "ends" of bottles of German wines as German parties wound down came to be known as "cold ends" ("kalte ende") in German. Later, a one-letter substitution ("ente" for "ende") resulted in the creation of the name "cold duck". An unverified 2007 "Wikipedia" article credits one Harold Borgman, a Detroit wine cellars owner, with cold duck's "invention", although this same article attributes its creation to "a traditional German custom of mixing all the dregs of unfinished wine bottles with champagne".

However, some cynically suggest that cold duck merely provided a convenient and profitable method of disposal of grapes unsuitable for the creation of wines of quality. One can only hope that scholarly investigation will eventually provide a definitive historical account of the origin of the name of this sparklingly named effervescent beverage.

Answer: Restriction of imports of Bombay duck into European Union nations

The Bombay duck, as I am sure you are well aware, is one of 65 members of the lizardfish family known as "Synodontidae". According to an apocryphal story, the term "Bombay duck" originally referenced the rancid odor coming from the "Bombay Dak", the train that carried this Southeast Asian and Indian delicacy.

In 1997, the European Union suddenly seemed to become aware that Bombay duck was not being prepared for export in approved freezing or canning factories and banned its import. The ensuing outrage on the part of Bombay duck connoisseurs led to the formation of the "Save the Bombay Duck" movement". Ultimately, the EC approved import of the pungent delicacy prepared with traditional open air drying so long as packing was done at a European Union approved packing station.

Answer: Bulls and bears

Prior to the use of "lame duck" in 20th century American politics to describe outgoing Presidents, 18th century financial writers used the term to refer to those who incurred crippling financial losses. "Bull" and "bear" were also used in their current sense at that time. The British slang term "dove" refers one easily taken advantage of.

Answer: Any of these

Although other athletic endeavors use the term "goose egg" for zero, for some reason Cricket fans seem to prefer "out for a duck" to describe a batsman who is out before scoring any runs. A Mandarin Chinese restaurant would generally feature Peking duck. Ducks Unlimited is officially devoted to maintenance of duck habitat, but duck hunters are its main supporters.

The Ducks Unlimited website features conservation but also duck calling, dog training and recipes. Certainly, one of its members might well be "out for a duck". Also, one might be tempted to observe that, ultimately, ducks foot the bill for the website.

Answer: Terry Pratchett

Yes, Terry Pratchett had twelve books on the British long-term bestsellers list in 2001 at a time Jane Austen was in second place with five. And true, fantasy writing is becoming more respectable. But would anyone dare consider Britain's amazingly popular and durable Discworld creator Terry Pratchett to be a "literary giant"? One must concede that Dickens and Poe both indulged in fantasy, and some might consider Mr. Pratchett's outrageous humor to be reminiscent of Mr. Wilde's.

But how seriously can we (or how seriously should we) take the writings of a man who brought us not only the Soul Cake Duck but also the Hogfather, Scissor Man and the Death of Rats.

By the way, if you'd been hoping to pick up Discworld Emporium's "Soul Cake Duck Plaque", you're too late.

It's already sold out!

Answer: Duck tails

According to "yourdictionary.com", "ducktail", referring to the slick combed-back hair stylish in both the 1940s and 1950s, is a word - although my Microsoft Word spell checker disagrees. In any event, when riots broke out in Los Angeles in 1942, an attorney for 22 ducktailed men accused of murder during the riots suggested that his zoot-suited clients shave off their ducktails, presumably to hamper witnesses' ability to identify them.

The trial judge did not permit the defendants to change their hairstyles and held the attorney who made the suggestion in contempt.

Answer: Ernie

Should you be in Santa Monica on the correct Saturday in June, you can participate in a "Duckfest", an annual rubber duck festival that was begun in 2002. Perhaps you harbor one of the five common ducky misconceptions listed on the "Duckplanet.com" website. But visit the site, and you will learn that rubber ducks are not all the same, that rubber ducks are made in places other than China, that not all "rubber ducks" are made of rubber, that a lone rubber duck is an unhappy rubber duck AND that rubber ducks did not begin with Ernie on Sesame street.

Are you, perhaps, a closet rubber duck collector, fearful that a day will come when your childish obsession will be revealed to your shocked friends and family? If so, I strongly recommend a visit to "Duckplanet.com" where you can read the encouraging account of a hardened duck collector who was finally able to say, "I know I'd proudly shout from the rooftops: 'I collect Rubber Ducks! And I'm proud of it!'" It's probably just a coincidence that only the person's first name is given.