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Does anyone know the origin of the Term 'Duck' used in Nottingham?

How long has it been used and how Widespread is it?

I think its also used in some parts of Derbyshire?

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have to say first of all that these are the words of someone else not me. . if it was me i'd have been sure to go off on tangents at least twice haha I will tell you a tale that is true and will once

First shouted at Wellington by a Notts lad at Waterloo when he saw a cannonball heading straight for the Iron Dukes head.

I was watching a couple of wood pigeons mating on our fence last night and I envied them till I fell off the damn fence myself!

As close as I could find for an origin was a reference a 1530-40 alteration of the Dutch word 'docke' meaning 'doll' which gave rise to the word duck, ducky, duckies, duckier and even duckiest being used in British slang: used as a term of endearment ie. dear; sweetheart; darling; pet, fine, wonderful, cute and charming.

One other source advised it meant "darling or dear: used as a term of endearment among women, but now often used in imitation of the supposed usage by homosexual men".

But the best find I made was this one, courtesy of the Online Etymology Dictionary.: -

ducky: - "excellent," slang from 1897; probably not related to much earlier slang and meaning "a woman's breast" ["...whose pritty duckys I trust shortly to kysse," Henry VIII, letter to Anne Boleyn, c.1536].

Enough to make you quack up! slywink

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I heard it from my earliest days because my mum and dad always used it when speaking to each other, so I knew it as a phrase which was said to someone of the opposite sex. And for years I only heard it when it was used by a man speaking to a woman or vice-versa.

I was in my early 20s before I ever heard it being used by man-to-man, and it came as a bit of a surprise.

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I seem to think "ma duck" was also used from adult to child (boy or girl) - and I agree that it was used in Derbyshire as well as our own fair county..

I also remember sometime in the 1970s, a man that I knew from Northern Ireland going into a shop in Matlock to buy a new tie that he fancied. After wrapping his purchase and taking his money, the young girl said, "Thanks duck." He hadn't come across the expression before, and looked at her in astonishment. There was a long awkward pause, then he said, "Duck? Do I look like a duck? It's one of the ugliest creatures on earth!"

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A dour Scot I worked with once said "Don't call me Jock!"...I said "I didn't ...I called you Duck!" He said "Don't call me that either"...I said ..."You'd better piss off back to Scotland then mate!"

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What happened to my post???? relating that " Me Duck" is used all the way up the Trent valley , even over as far as Crewe.

Ducky is also used in the gay language Polari, it's a reference to a fellow queer.

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Many years ago i was working in Savemore' supermarket in Bulwell,and a real London lad started work there having just moved up,we were having a tea break on his 1st day,and he said to me,"you are a strange lot up here" i said you be ok when you get used to us,he said yes probably,but so far this morning ive been asked for 'chicken duck' Bacon duck' and sausage duck' what sort of bladdy Birds do you have up here ?

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As I understand it, it comes from someone who sold duck eggs from the back of a cart at the then Victorinex Centre in Notts, c. 1665. His sign read, 'Come and get me Ducks' and when you bought them, they were indeed ducklings. The cart was a hatch back.

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Groan!

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26.05.15%20065_zpszfbjzx5q.jpg
For a few weeks we've had Mr and Mrs Mallard coming over regularly for a swim, once they've eaten all the fish food. However for the past couple of days only the female has been to our pond. I'm worried now that something's happened to her mate. Those falcons are only a mile or so down the road!!!
Apologies for the quality of this pic but I took it from inside the house with my phone and had to zoom in.

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He's off on the razzle !!!!

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