The picture is funny enough, but in the discussion at reddit, I learned that in Minnesota, they don’t play the game by saying “duck, duck, goose,” but instead it’s “duck, duck, grey duck!” OuchoGroucho told us:

I remember that with Duck, Duck, Grey Duck one can play with the tiniest bit of subterfuge. The person that was “it” would always draw out the first syllable slightly when saying “grrrrreen duck.” Sometimes it would cause confusion, and one could slip in “grey duck” and get a slight head start. We would also say many fun colors as we went around. Moving from red duck, blue duck to lavender duck, beige duck, grrrrrassy duck.

Link

As a duckling, this adorable fella was shunned by his family and hasn’t wanted to go back since. He now follows duck breeder Barrie Hayman wherever he goes, waiting for him outside of supermarkets and even taking the seat beside him at pubs.

Video -via Arbroath | Previously on Neatorama Trucking Duck

Oh, nothing special, just a duck walking through Beijing showing off its shoes. Link -via Buzzfeed

(Image credit: China Foto Press/Barcroft Media)

While some cities are buried under snow, a road in Cambridgeshire only looked that way as it was covered in duck feathers. A truck carrying the feathers caught fire and spilled its load on the A14.

A ruptured diesel tank caused the fire in the lorry, which was carrying the duck feathers on the A14 near Hemingford Grey.

The westbound carriageway of the road was shut after being covered in the white feathers and a rolling roadblock was in place eastbound.

Diversions are in place but motorists are advised to avoid the area.

The truck was destroyed, and the feathers went everywhere. Link (with video) -via Arbroath

Best Lyric: “Rubber duckie, joy of joys, when I squeeze you, you make noise.”

(YouTube link)

Not long after Sesame Street premiered in November 1969, staff writer Jeff Moss had a eureka moment. While soaking in his bathtub, Moss hit upon the idea for “Rubber Duckie”, Ernie’s ode to his favorite toy. The song quickly became a bathtime anthem and flew to No. 16 on the Billboard pop charts. As Sesame Street spread to more than 140 countries, the fame of “Rubber Duckie” grew with it. In 1996, Sesamstrausse’s “Quietscheentchen” (“Squeaky Little Duck”) invaded Germany, where a techno remix caught the nation by storm and helped sell 1.8 million copies worldwide. “Rubber Duckie” also popularized the toys, which are now raced in derbies and regattas around the world, and are even used by oceanographers to track sea currents.

Earworm Index: **** On a Loop

“Put Down the Duckie” by Norman Stiles & Christopher Cerf

Best Lyric: “What good are flying fingers if they’re wrapped around a duck?”

(YouTube link)

Ernie’s “Rubber Duckie” paved the way for another Sesame Street hit in 1986 with “Put Down the Duckie”. The bluesy number taught kids to do one thing at a time, or as Hoots the Owl put it, “You’ve got to put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone.” After the song was released, so many stars wanted to lend their voices to it that Sesame Street decided to produce two celebrity versions of the tune. Participants included John Candy, Pee Wee Herman, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Jeremy Irons, Pete Seeger, Rhea Perlman, Danny DeVito, and many more.

Earworm Index: ***** Stuck for Days

“Disco Duck” by Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots

Best Lyric: “There’s no stoppin’ a duck and his beat.”

(YouTube link)

Back in 1976, Rick Dees was just another morning DJ living in a rundown Memphis apartment. But one afternoon, while perched high on a chair trying to avoid a mouse, inspiration hit. In no time, Dees had written the dance classic “Disco Duck”, about a guy at a party who’s overcome by the urge to flap his arms and quack on the dance floor. Although it took three months to convince anyone to play the song, it eventually sold more than four million copies and reached No. 1 on the pop chart. People all across the country were shaking their tail feathers. Well, except in Memphis, where rival DJs refused to play Rick’s song. Even Dees was forbidden from spinning it on his show because station managers claimed it would be a conflict of interest. Apparently, he wasn’t even allowed to talk about the song, because when he did, he promptly lost his job. But his career wasn’t derailed for long. By 1982, Rick Dees had become Southern California’s most popular morning DJ.

Earworm Index: *** Catchy

“The Ugly Duckling” by Sergei Prokofiev

Best Lyric: “Everyone wished him to be eaten by the cat.”

(YouTube link)

Sergei Prokofiev’s opus “The Ugly Duckling” was pawned amid the tumult of youthful romance. In 1914, the 23-year-old Russian composer promised his lover and librettist, Nina Meshcherskaya, a song that represented their relationship. When he suggested basing it on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of an awkward duckling, she thought he was joking. But there were many similarities between Prokofiev and an ugly duck, including his gangly figure, protuberate lips, and downy hair. Eventually she gave in and wrote the words, while he penned the music. Although the song was a hit, their love affair had no such fairy-tale ending. Soon after the piece debuted, Prokofiev and Meshcherskaya broke up under pressure from her parents.

Earworm Index: * Forgettable

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The article above, written by Megan Wilde, appeared in the Nov – Dec 2009 issue of mental_floss magazine. It is reprinted here with permission.

Don’t forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss’ extremely entertaining website and blog today!

“This is the most amazing thing because in doing physio on the duckling, the same as I do for my son, Finlay took his first three steps after watching me doing the physio with the duckling.

“I was brimming with pride.

“Finlay uses a frame at home but even that’s increased. He said ‘I walk like the duck Mummy’,” says Becci.

Is this quack medicine? We’ll see when she gets a bill. Link -via Fark

*ducks*

Anatidaephobia is the fear that a duck is watching you. The term was coined by Gary Larson, author of the comic The Far Side, who profited from ducks watching people. In these days of contextual advertising, the fear may be well-founded. Link to larger screenshot. Link to text article. -via Bits and Pieces

Judy Mandell of the Los Angeles Times writes about the more unusual behind-the-scenes hotel jobs. Take for instance, Jason Sensat’s job. He’s the Duckmaster at the Peabody hotel:

At the Peabody hotel in Memphis, Tenn., five mallard ducks live in a penthouse on the roof. At 11 a.m. each day, they march to the lobby, where they splash in the fountain until 5 p.m., when the ceremony reverses. Duckmaster Jason Sensat feeds, cares for and trains the ducks.

"Many think this is a fun and glamorous job, and quite often it is with media interviews, travel and celebrity honorary Duckmasters — but it’s also a dirty job, as cleaning up after the flock is part of the job too," Sensat says.

Read the rest: Link | Jason’s official page at The Peabody

Local vet Barrie Fleming, who advised the farm’s owners, Roger Olver and Tanya Dalton, on the hatching, said they had “every reason to be excited by the birth” as it was a very rare occurrence.

The BBC has the video. Link -via Arbroath

Mrs Morgan is now trying to raise the £500 needed for an operation which entails Lucky’s right leg being broken again and set correctly. Since the damaged leg is now seven millimetres short, Lucky will also have rods inserted around it to lengthen the limb a small amount every couple of days until it is in line.

‘It is quite complicated but it works on humans and the vet is quite confident it will work,’ added Mrs Morgan.

‘Lucky is a real character and full of life. That is why I didn’t want to go with the first vet’s opinion about being put to sleep.

‘She loves having a cwtch (Welsh for a cuddle) and is as good as gold.’

Link -via Unique Daily

Inanimate objects can walk into a bar: Three fonts walk into a bar. The bartender says, "We don’t serve your type in here."

And my favorite:

A duck walks into a bar. And he says to the bartender "Got any grapes?" The bartender says "No, I don’t have any grapes." The duck walks out, sorely disappointed.

So the next day, he walks back into the bar, asks the same question, gets the same answer.

The day after, he walks back into the bar, and again, asks the bartender, "Do you have any grapes?" The bartender, having still not figured out why this duck seems to think he may have some grapes, says to the duck, "No, and if you come back in here tomorrow and ask me if I have any grapes, I will nail your bill to the bar!"

The duck frowns, turns around, and walks out of the bar. So the next day, the duck walks back into the bar, and asks the bartender "Got any nails?"

The bartender says, "No."

So the duck says, "Got any grapes?"

Link

Joe and Frank chat often on the road. Joe complains about the traffic; Frank quacks. And driver and duck go about their business delivering construction materials throughout the Twin Cities for Elite Transportation Systems.

“Pretty good looking site we helped build there,” Joe says proudly to Frank as they descend into the Mississippi River valley with a load of steel for the new I-35W bridge. “We did a good job Frankie.”

To many of the construction workers he encounters in his deliveries, Joe is now known as the “duck man.”

The title suits him just fine.

“I go to these construction sites and you always see everybody smile when they see him,” Joe says.

Link to story. Link to video.

This YouTube video is about Toby the dog and Sheila the duck who adopted him at the Mac Kenzie farm. The video, first spotted at Cute Overload, has gone viral because of the sheer WTF-ishness of it (is that a word? No? It should be!).

The video is subtitled in Spanish, but you really don’t need to speak a whit of Spanish to understand what happened. And be prepared to be amazed: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Update 11/24/08 – It’s a viral ad by an Argentinian ISP called Arnet – Thanks Demian!