Three Way News: Duck, Donald

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Duck, Donald

I'm sure most 3WN readers have heard all about the calls for Donald Rumsfeld to resign as Sec. of Defense. It appears that W has finally heard them, too, since when asked about them the other day he testily replied "I read the front page!" Oh, for the days of a president who read the whole paper and even did the crossword. In pen. But the line from Chimpy that I really liked was "I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain." The decider? When the Jamboetts play Duck Duck Goose they say that the one who goes around touching people on the head is the "ducker", but then again they're not quite 6 yet. I'd like to say I expect better language skills from the current president but that would be untrue.

[OK, I have taken a little creative license with this post. Kids in Minnesota for some reason are told the game is Duck Duck Gray Duck and that is what my girls play, but I just cannot bring myself to call it that. I went to grade school out east and kids there, and everywhere else in the civilized world as far as I can tell, play Duck Duck Goose. Has anyone else found this to be the case?]

Update: Oh man, a friend just sent me this and it is not to me missed! Warning for those reading in a quiet office, sound file plays automatically.

17 Comments:

Only morons play duck, duck, grey duck... and they throw in other colors, too. Only in Minnesota... I actually took a poll when I started at the U a century ago, and it's only in Minnesota.

By Anonymous, at 5:52 PM

I suspected as much. The only people I have ever heard call it gray duck grew up in Minnesota. I would love to know why that is the case.

By Jambo, at 6:32 PM

My Minnesota born and raised wife immediately responded "Grey Duck" when I asked her what she played as a child. As a properly raised Iowan, I am a Gooser all of the way. Until reading this post, I had no idea that variation of the game existed.

By Anonymous, at 7:41 PM

Another "me too" for goose, and I also have a misguided, MN-born, grey ducking spouse.

By the way, neither Merriam-Webster nor dictionary.com has a problem with "decider," while Wiktionary doesn't know what Dubya's talking about.

By Joseph Thvedt, at 9:43 PM

This reminds me of the samatic discussion I remember from years past relating to the name of a large pile of people envolving alcohol, a german, a group of former girls basketball cheerleader, and the dance floor at the safari lounge. Dogpile, monkeypile, pigpile?

By Anonymous, at 8:29 AM

According to Bugs Bunny, it's a "dog pile on the wabbit". But those were actual dogs.

By Hammer, at 8:56 AM

All goose in Wisconsin. I don't quite know how a gray duck is different from a regular duck; but there is certainly a distinction between a duck and goose--both in appearance and locution.

By Anonymous, at 9:24 AM

I've been a Minnesotan all my life and am proud to have played "Duck, Duck, GREY DUCK" - way more creativity involved than "Duck Duck Goose", which is BORING. As we played it, every person was a different type or style of duck, i.e. "purple duck", "polka dot duck", "striped duck" until you finally got to "grey duck!"

So on behalf of all gray-ducking MN'ers, I demand an apology for belittling our game and insinuating we are morons.

Oh...and my kids WILL play grey duck!

Knocked-up Duck in MPLS

By Anonymous, at 9:39 AM

Using "differnt styles" of ducks that don't begin w/ "gr" is worthless. As soon as the "P" on polka dot comes out, you know you are not going to be it. That sucks, a lot. I can only think of two other "gr" sounds. Green duck, and gray duck. Stupid game.

By Anonymous, at 2:59 PM

I'm willing to stipulate that the only moron in this whole debate is the lame duck president mentioned in the post above. However, it is clear that the Minnesota version of the game is an unexplained aberration, a view that is only reenforced by a friend's telling me that North Dakota is a Gray state as well.

By the way Joseph, there are plenty of words in dictionaries that are perfectly legitimate but sound infantile when uttered in adult conversation. Granted most of them deal with bodily functions like "poopy" or "tinkle". In this case "decider" had all the sophistication of a president saying "The U.N. isn't the boss of me!"

By Jambo, at 5:15 PM

Oh, and the dog/pig/monkey pile argument took place well before the days of easy internet searching so it's no wonder we didn't come up with a definitive answer. A quick search today shows all three being in some limited use but with "dog pile" the far more popular form.

By Jambo, at 5:19 PM

Well, I don't know much about people from North Dakota... I think I met someone from Minot once... it seems to be a quiet place with not much going on where Minnesota is a trend-setting, happening place in comparison. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that it's grey.... I'm just surprised noone threw a joke about Iowa out there... but then, they know how to goose someone down there.

By Anonymous, at 10:43 PM

I tried "Rummy|No Rummy" in the decider 10 times, and it came up even. Kerry won 7-3 vs. Bush.

And ba ha ha is absolutely correct about using a variety of duck adjectives -- the monosyllabic nature of "duck" and "goose" are essential to the pace of the game. "Polka-dot duck" is the equivalent of TV timeouts and instant replay reviews in the NFL.

By Joseph Thvedt, at 11:37 AM

Grumpy duck, groovy duck, grandpa duck, green duck, granuloma duck, gravedigger duck, it doesn't have to be colors, you can say whatever you want. I don't see how anyone could disparage a game which improves one's verbal skills. Bastard ducks.

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