I recently caught up on your post hiatus blog entries and the one about New York geography caught my attention. Not because I'm from New York, or because my setting is there, but because it coincided with getting feedback on my first ten pages from another reader. That feedback highlighted something that looks like a research issue in my writing which has been bugging me for years, and I could use an expert opinion.When writing should I call it Duct tape or Duck tape? I've tried both ways and every single time I send my book out to a reader I get it back with whatever spelling I choose marked as a typo. Like, way more often than if I'd just picked one randomly; somehow I always use the version that any given reader thinks is wrong. Normally I wouldn't care, but my MC getting tied up with duct/duck tape is a key point in my first chapter. I know establishing credibility with an agent right off the bat is important, and I don't want to come off as someone who can't even spell.Also, to go a bit beyond, the worst part is I did do my research and either way is right. See the Wikipedia page for the full details, but it's been spelled either way since the 1950s. Beyond that, I've worked maintenance jobs and I have some personal experience with the many, many different varieties available. They have a fascinating array of properties and choosing the right one is actually important for many applications... and deciding to go with the cheap stuff in lieu of handcuffs or rope is the big reason why two of the kidnappers in my first chapter get their heads bashed in with a tire iron.
My mom's favorite interior decorating tool was a hammer.
A close second: duct tape.
Duct tape is correct for what the product is.
It accurately describes what the tape was intended to be used on.
Like Scotch tape is intended to hold you up after too many Scotches, right?
Duck Tape is a brand name. Unless you're taping ducks, in which case you might want Gorilla Tape, which I guess is supposed to evoke strength and ferocity, but honestly if they'd thought about it, they should have picked Dung Beetle for the name, cause that's the strongest animal on earth.
Woe to you who use inferior brands of duct tape. I see in your novel it leads to headbashing. In my case it allowed an air conditioner to fall out the window. And the AC unit wasn't Acme, and there was nary a roadrunner in sight. I really could have used a couple dung beetles then.
Be prepared to wage war with your publisher's copy editor on this.
46 comments:
I've switched from duct/duck tape to Gorilla tape because that tape is super sticky and strong.
How Duck tape is made
A completely irrelevant duct tape anecdote.
I am currently pet-sitting 100 stick insects*. The owner has them in plastic storage boxes, with a front window cut out and covered in fly mesh for ventilation. The fly mesh is held on with duct tape. On the outside this is fine. On the inside, not so much.
The problem is that duct tape, while marvellous at taping ducts, will not deform over a 2 mm edge and stick to fly mesh. Just won't do it.
Cue my husband and I spending yesterday morning liberating baby stick insects from an ad hoc sticky trap. This requires a scalpel and very steady hands. Especially when they aren't your pets.
The moral of this story is that when stick insect proofing homemade containers, you want masking tape.
*She started with 2, but stick insects can reproduce asexually and lay A LOT of eggs.
Aphra Pell... and I thought bunnies were frisky.
Definitely go with duct tape. Interesting that Janet mentions Scotch tape. That would be meaningless in the UK, where Sellotape reigns supreme.
Which reminds me... There's a children's show on the BBC called "Blue Peter." It's been running for about 60 years now, and it had always featured a "how-to" craft spot. In this segment, one of the presenters demonstrates how to make a miniature theater out of a cereal box and other household odds and ends, or how to construct a thermo-nuclear device out of duct tape and string (I exaggerate a little there). However, since the BBC is both publicly and government funded, they cannot advertise or be seen to give brand preference. Therefore household items that are commonly known by a brand name have to be referred to generically. A "Hoover" is a vacuum cleaner. "Sellotape" becomes "sticky-back plastic." Suffice to say, they would NEVER have referred to "Duck Tape." It would have been "duct tape."
An interesting bit of Monday morning trivia for you... :)
Colin - did you escape sticky back plastic at school? It's not sellotape (that's sticky tape generically) it's a flexible (and of course sticky backed) plastic sheet that you cut to shape and apply to things to give them a wipe clean surface. We had to cover our school books in it.
2NNs - the interesting thing about stick insects is they don't need to get frisky. The vast majority are girls and they just pump out eggs, which hatch into more girls. I'm adopting some to show off in my lecture on oxygen, insect adaptations and giant bugs. But I will be freezing their eggs.
(Random science fact, go google "carboniferous giant bugs". Unless you are phobic about centipedes the length of cars. In which case, really, really, don't).
PSA: Do not apply tape to ducks. They get... grumpy.
The Scotch tape that we buy at the library is called Highland tape, and it took me awhile to realize why!
I remember an episode of that 90's Sitcom, Home Improvement, where the silvery tape in question was discussed, and Jill learned that it was correctly referred to as DUCT tape. I honestly didn't even know Duck Tape was a brand until more recently ("recently" is one of those catchall terms I've been employing to mean "since the year 2000"); I just assumed people weren't saying "duct" properly.
Aphra: It's been a while since I last watched Blue Peter, but that's what most of the presenters called Sellotape back then. I might have heard "sticky tape" once or twice, but it's been a while. I'm sure we used sheets of clear sticky-back plastic at school, but I don't recall what we called it. I do recall kids using it to cover school books. That was a long time ago, though!
This sounds like a job for one of my favourite writing tools: Google's Ngram Viewer!
Sadly, I can't embed the chart, but here's the link. Duct tape crushes duck tape.
Originally, when the US military developed it to seal ammunition boxes, it was Duck Tape.
After WWII it became ubiquitous in everyday life, primarily because of the popularity of the newly inexpensiveness of central heat and air. The ex-soldiers who started manufacturing knockoff brands called it Duct Tape.
Either usage is proper, but it still leaves that glue residue all over everything. It is nasty to clean up.
A few years ago emergency managers said to make an x over your windows with it, as part of your hurricane prep. Then someone else proved it was worthless. You can still see the glue from those days on some windows around here.
I have eliminated duck/duct tape from my fantasy world. It was all destroyed in the apocalypse - or maybe that is what caused the apocalypse - the sudden removal of sticky tape from society. Ah editing, so much fun.
Originally, when the US military developed it to seal ammunition boxes, it was Duck Tape.
I guess that explains the blip during the '40s and '50s on the Ngram chart.
I'm laughing because I'm delirious from staying home with the kids 2 weeks while hub is at a class, and there's an episode of Dora the Explorer in which a character keeps screaming for "sticky tape!!!"
Carry on.
Ah, what a blog. Where else could you get a discussion of stick insects, duct/duck tape, and Ngram charts all in one morning--and, on Monday, at that.
Aphra Pell: I googled the Carboniferous and... Wow. All I can say is griffinflies are going in a future writing project. They are amazing! The giant centipedes... Let's just say I met a reasonably large one in real life once. Suddenly. In my flat. (The legs... Ohhh the legs.) Am I now phobic? Possibly. Are they also going in a future project? Maybe.
@Aphra Pell: Contact paper! Love that stuff. It's also what you use to laminate things.
I will definitely use this duck/duct tape convo in my WIP. Thank you in advance, fellow Reiders!
Cecilia: Does that mean we all get to be in your WiP? Can I have a cool sword? :D
The tape developed in WWII was duct tape. They used it for all kinds of things, repairing windows, ammo boxes, and emergency bandages. After the war, they found it was the perfect tape for ductwork, hence calling it duct tape.
Manco changed the name to Duck tape in 1980 with the duck mascot. I assume because so many people called it duck tape. This used to be one of my pet peeves, then this company had to go and name a tape Duck tape. I figured it was some off brand taking advantage of the popularity. Nope, it was the original guys getting smart and taking advantage of people mispronouncing the name. So, I forgave them and started buying Duck brand duct tape again.
To the OP, stand your ground on this depending on what you intended. If you meant a generic duct tape, use that.
I use some name brand things in Rain Crow because it either adds flavor or it's most correct. In 1861, a small single shot pistol would have been a Deringer, though others gun manufacturers were beginning to copy his design since Deringer hadn't patented it. Derringer often generically referred to the others and later to any small one or two shot pistol. Lorena carries a Deringer and often wears Kiss-Me-Quick perfume or Florida Water as her aunt does.
Oh, sweet memories of Duct Tape v Air Conditioner I.
Where I first learned the word DEFENESTRATION. It's fallen (sorry not sorry) into two short stories since.
On the question of Duck or Duct, I scoured a number of sources on the interwebs. Places like Mental Floss, Science ABC, and other pages with impressive-sounding names. They all seem to tell a similar story. As Craig said, "duck tape" was a war-time creation to help seal munitions boxes to stop them getting wet. Hence "duck" tape. Post-war applications for the tape included sealing ducts, hence "duct tape." It seems, however, the pros don't use duct tape for ducts anymore. But back then they did, so that name stuck. (Ha ha.) Also, ironically, the Duck brand site calls it "duct tape."
So the bottom line: Whatever. ;) Though I would go with "duct" unless it really matters to your story, since that's what most people know it as and is least likely to cause confusion/arguments/divorces/death-threats, etc.
Colin,
My WIP is contemporary so no swords, unfortunately. I can make you the CEO of a fictional property management company who waxes pedantic on things like duck/duct tapes :)
In the film industry, duct tape is called gaffer tape... So to avoid the duct/duck issue, you could just call it gaffer.
And that sticky stuff you use to cover school books? It's called contact.
Cecelia: Can I use a ducted duck tape magic wand in your WIP?
O.P.
Switch from duct tape to rope and gag. That'd patch everything up for you.
(Just kidding - Go with duct tape)
I read a weekly column by The Texanist who answers readers' questions. The big issue this weeK: Is the dip they serve in Mexican restaurants properly called hot sauce or Salsa?
And I hope nobody brings up the unagreed upon answer to y'all or ja'll?
Just because I love etymology: Meanings change, products change, and what we have today may no longer resemble what was.
Originally a strong waterproof tape was needed. The tape produced in the US was Army green, rubber-covered Duck cloth. Duck cloth has nothing to do with ducks - it is a Dutch word ("doek") meaning "cloth" and refers to a heavy, strongly-woven linen or cotton canvas. Duck cloth has been around for hundreds of years. If you buy duck cloth today it is cotton. It was the 40s. They weren't using plastic, polypropylene or anything else that wasn't commercially developed for another 20 years.
Something to think about is that just because the US Army caused a rubber-covered tape to be developed does not mean that other companies in both the US and in other countries did not create a very similar product. When I first knew duct tape I was helping out in community theatre and it was silver in colour and called gaffer tape. The gaffer is the head electrician but it's a good strong tape and was generally used in the theatre for just about anything. Call it "duct tape" and it was sold everywhere for taping heating ducts and preventing leaks (there was an energy crisis in the early 70s).
Since WWII the tape has, of course, changed. Duck cloth was quickly changed for heavy plastic, modern sticky glues replaced the older kind that broke down more quickly, the coating was no longer rubber. Wikipedia tells me that in modern times there is a difference between silver gaffer tape and silver duct tape, the latter having a shiny polypropylene coating and gaffer tape now having a dull coating that is not light-reflective. That differentiation is a modern thing; my silver gaffer tape was labelled duct tape.
And then in 1980 an American company making this tape rebranded their product (only) as "Duck Tape" and put a cheery little duck on the label, causing confusion because the link to cloth was lost and thanks to their advertising people think duck tape is the original, universal name and refers to our waddling feathered friend. However, Duck Tape is a US brand, it is not everywhere. In many places - in the US and elsewhere - if you refer to Duck Tape people will either correct you or else just say nothing and think you're not very well educated.
Rightly or wrongly, the general term in North America is duct tape. But what makes me laugh? Modern HVAC system experts tell me you can use it for just about anything, but you should never use it for ducts.
I never know what I'm going to learn here. I've always called it duct tape.
Craig, I lived in coastal Florida as a very young child. I have very few (and all dreamlike) memories of that time, but one of them is covering our windows with tape. I remember my excitement about the impending hurricane. I'm sure my parents were less thrilled.
Ooh, ooh, Cecilia! Can my character have violet eyes and a good smirk?
Dr. Frain
I've loved the word "defenestrate" for a very long time. I finally got a chance to use in in Rain Crow. No, I didn't toss the good doctor out the window.
Okay, I've been sitting on my hands to keep from posting this, but I can't resist. It's related to the duct/duck thing, but not to tape.
We get far too many nuisance calls from companies wanting to clean our heating ducts. Here's how I handle it:
Caller: Good morning. I'm calling from XYZ Company to tell you about a special offer on having your ducts cleaned.
Me: Oh, I don't have any ducks. I do have one goose that could use cleaning though. What do you charge for that?
Dead silence. Dial tone. I hang up, and take a look out the window at our goose, Elsie. I think she's laughing too.
Laughing at the fact that our gaffers ask for duct tape.
Cecilia - if Colin gets a company and Craig gets a wand, I would like a flame thrower.
A co-worker was using some duct tape and said, "Do you know what they call this in Kentucky?" (FYI - we worked in Ohio for a company that had manufacturing plants in KY)
I just stared at him and shook my head.
He said, "Chrome!"
Yep, bad joke, but it came to mind with this discussion and I just thought I'd share.
Craig and Lennon,
Okay.
Inserting guy named Craig with a ducted tape magic wand and girl with violet eyes who smirks in my WIP.
Aaaaaaand done!
I agree: duct tape.
Maggie, my son once broke his toy sword. I said I'd try to glue it together, but he said, "Just use Goose tape!"
Joseph, depends on which language you're speaking. And there's pico do gallo, too. Just as long as there's something with tomatoes and peppers to dip the chips, we're good.
Cynthia,
I'm actually giving Craig's name to a plumber character. That's my quota of C named characters. I can use your last name for a character that works in an industry that is kinda related to flamethrowers- oil and gas.
Cecilia: CEO of a property management company? I'll take it! And on my desk is a VHS called "Mallards in the Wild." Yes--it's my duck tape. ;D
The Defenestrated Doctor sounds like an intriguing, wince-inducing chapter heading, Julie. Promise you, I'm not grabbing my bookmark if I've read that far.
... unless you get Benjamin Dreyer, the copy chief at Penguin Random House, editing your novel. You probably don't want to wage war with him.
Colin,
Ha! Cue the Benny Hill theme.
Goodness... today is a day, here on the blog, when all I understand is 'train station'.
What is this thing?
*will consult translation tool after hitting 'publish' - or ask Fiancé*
Katja.
Am I the only one who feels "sticky tape" is redundant? Where I live, if you ask for just "tape" you will be pointed to the scotch tape/sellotape. It is kind of the default tape.
Joseph S
I agree with Beth. Salsa, salsa verde, or pico de gallo (rooster's beak). We won't get into queso and guacamole.
Dr. Frain
Don't make me do it. It's enough I had to kill poor Colin, though I'm regretting that mightily.
Cecilia - I am a Southern girl who went to school wit Standard Oil tycoons' kids. I love oil.
Maggie
I love your goose cleaning story. We used to have gooses (Yes, I know it's geese, but it was always gooses around our outfit.) and they were the best watchdogs save the guinea fowl who are almost as raucous as peafowl.
I, too, love the word defenestrate. Someday I’ll find a way to weasel it into my writing. I’m blasé about duct tape but that contact paper stuff is one of the two things in this world that I covet. The other is bubble wrap. Sad, really.
Julie
Gooses are really cool critters, aren't they? Good watchdogs, yes, although Pilgrim geese like Elsie are very gentle. She's twelve years old and has rarely even hisses.
BrendaLynn
You're in luck. You haven't missed it. World Bubble Wrap Appreciation day is January 28. You're welcome.
The things I run across when I'm researching witches.
Maggie
Alas, our gooses aside from a big gander with golden wings all turned very mean. At times they wouldn't even let Mother out of the pickup when they drove up and she hand raised them. On the plus side, visits from the game warden lessened. I guess he decided he didn't need to conduct nearly as many surveys as he used to.
Julie
You were lucky to have a mellow gander. Pilgrims are noted for their sweet natures, but even our Pilgrim ganders became a bit aggressive during breeding season. But the geese are darlings.
Imagine a game warden being afraid of geese!
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