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Dale
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Duck tape, duct tape, eh, we Yanks get sloppy with our language. English pedants like myself are an endangered species ... we are constantly in danger of popping off from stroke, because of the language-loons around us!
To wit: this morning I saw on the sports page some item about a "top-seeded" tennis player beating someone else. No surprise there, if the concensus of his peers CEDES him the top spot even before he plays. But I was gnashing my teeth, yea, almost weeping, at the mis-use of the word "seed" when what was meant was "cede."
But that is off-topic. We were talking about tape; specifically, duck tape (now commonly called "duct tape"). The stuff was invented around 1942, for the U.S. Army. The olive-drab tape, made from cotton duck and some sort of artificial rubber, was used to seal ammunition cases. But duck tape found many other uses, including being partnered with bailing wire to hold numerous G.P.'s (general purpose vehicles, later called "jeeps") together. I mean, a jeep was one tough vehicle, but it was being used in an even tougher environment!
When the war ended, all those folks coming back home, wanted homes to come back to, which they proceeded to build. When they wanted to stick things together, they reached for a roll of duck tape, because they were accustomed to using it for damn near everything already. The makers, Johnson & Johnson, were more than happy to supply them tape, since the Army no longer needed anywhere near as much as they had during the war.
One use for duck tape that became very common, was putting together ductwork in buildings. After a while, J&J came out with a new version of duck tape that was silver (which coordinated better with the sheet metal ductwork than did the olive-drab tape), and people started calling it "duct tape". Other changes included replacing the original cotton duck with a lighter, more open weave fabric. After sufficient time had passed that folks forgot it was originally made from cotton duck, there ensued arguments over whether "duck tape" or "duct tape" was the correct name. There is, however, still a brand of this tape (for of course, other manufacturers brought out their own versions) that bears, proudly, the tradename "Duck Tape" (from Henkel Consumer Adhesives, if you are interested).
And now you know everything you need to know about it.
Postscript: While researching this brief essay, I came across the web site for two fellows who make a living, promoting duck tape, among other things. I could not believe one of the things these guys are selling. It is a book. Containing the lyrics of one song. The song? I cannot believe someone would buy this ... yes I can, just to see peoples' faces when they see the book! ... Oh yeah, the song, to which they published the complete lyrics of ALL the verses: "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
Later ... not only have I fallen into the "off-topic" trap ... but I was WRONG!
See Tint's post, next. I looked it up in the dictionary. Two dictionaries. They both agreed, "seed" is correct. It comes from "seeding" the draw in a tournament: you may start by randomly assigning players to matches, but then you re-arrange the matches so that the players regarded as best, do not meet early in the tournament.
Oh, well. I'm still right about duck tape. But it is still off topic. Maybe I should tape my fingers together so I can't type anymo
REMAINDER OF THIS MORON'S RAMBLING REMOVED BY THE OFF-TOPIC POLICE
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