Friday, June 7, 2013

"Skeptics" As Purveyors of Urban Myths?

Don't know if it's true or not but someone whose name I know but will not reveal, suggests that the urban myth among those who have never kept ducks that they  are vicious animals may have started with a routine from the most obnoxious names in entertainment, Penn and Teller.   I don't know, their having passed their expiration date with me about five minutes into the first time I saw them on TV.  Anyone ever seen them with a duck?  I've seen them with many asses but never a duck.

Anyone have any other theories about where the common comment thread superstition that ducks are dangerous came from?



2 comments:

  1. Dangerous? No. Ill-tempered, yes. Probably a confusion with swans.

    I've had no experience with swans (that I can recall), but I had a pet duck once (Easter, long ago. When it got older, we had a pond to take it to, where it lived happily ever after. No, really; I used to visit the place and fish there.)

    Never found ducks to be dangerous, in my limited experience with 'em. No idea where such an idea comes from.

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  2. I always found them to be rather friendly, especially as compared to leghorn roosters. And let's not talk about bantams. I've been around fowl all of my life and don't recall ever being bitten by a duck.

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