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Actually, it was called duck tape before it was called duct tape. It's also not very good on ducts.
Bandersnatch said:Are you saying crescent wrench is a brand name of adjustable wrench formed as a reverse eponym from misspelling of the latter?
Makes you wish a pool shark would nip them in the butt.lisab said:Wayne's coating. Rot iron. Lam-nut flooring.
Evo said:I can't remember how old I was when I finally realized that "duck tape" was actually "duct tape". I wasn't young.
Duck tape is not duct tape. Duct tape is very hard, very strong, very durable, nigh impossible to cut, and works extremely well on ducts. Duck tape is soft, weak, degradable, easily ripped, and should never, ever be used on ducts.Evo said:I can't remember how old I was when I finally realized that "duck tape" was actually "duct tape". I wasn't young.
:rofl:D H said:Back to the original topic: Twenty-plus years ago I was active in working with my kids' athletic activities. The last name of one of the kids on one team was Hebert. Being a transplanted northerner, I naturally pronounced that as He-bert. Boy, did I get some feedback! I had to remind myself that the South is Oz, and that the correct pronunciation of that surname is given by "A lion, a tiger, Hebert, oh my!"
D H said:Duck tape is not duct tape. Duct tape is very hard, very strong, very durable, nigh impossible to cut, and works extremely well on ducts. Duck tape is soft, weak, degradable, easily ripped, and should never, ever be used on ducts.
D H said:Duck tape is soft, weak, degradable, easily ripped, and should never, ever be used on ducts.
AlephZero said:Hmm... something seems to have got "lost in translation" from the original product. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_duck
(I've never seen a reel of anything marketed as "duck tape", but I know the term "duck sheeting" for the cloth used as weatherproof covers, etc.)
If Americans heard it without seeing the Dutch spelling, they would probably have spelled it "Duke tape" (with a flat American u sound, not British English "Dewk"). But Dutch vowels tend to sound shorter than they look (at least to my British eyes and ears) so Duck isn't a bad approximation.zoobyshoe said:Doek tape? People would have started pronouncing it "Doke tape."
Pythagorean said:What's a flat american u sound? I would have pronounced Duke as Dewk.
His transliteration of the British is pronounced according to how we pronounce ew in the word ewe:Pythagorean said:What's a flat american u sound? I would have pronounced Duke as Dewk.
Evo said:That one kills me, we actually had people in another thread trying to defend it's use. :uhh: