![]() : : "Comparing scores for the same joke with different animals inserted in it, we found that the funniest animal of all is a duck. : : If Evan Morris (the Word Detective), with all his research resources, has given it a shot, nobody here is likely to turn up anything more of substance about the origin. I'll bet there's a clue in there somewhere. ![]() The classic 1933 Marx Brothers film "Duck Soup" begins with a shot of ducks paddling around in a soup cauldron. Is "duck soup" easy because ducks are easy to shoot (as in "sitting duck"), or because ducks are very greasy and thus easily rendered into soup? Or is the phrase a play on the fact that any spot of water with a resident duck is already "duck soup"? Your guess is as good as mine. : : : Not only is the precise origin of "duck soup" unclear, but I'm afraid that the original logic of the phrase remains obscure as well. : : : Dorgan in 1902, and showed up again in a work by someone named H.C. According to The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G, the phrase "duck soup" first appeared in a newspaper cartoon drawn by T.A. : : : Unfortunately, not everything is possible in the world of English etymology, and a search for the origins of "duck soup" soon runs aground on a simple lack of : : : Pardon the Marx Brothers reference, but why does this phrase mean something that is easily done? The Word Detective offers no definitive answer and attributes the popularity of the phrase to the movie. In Reply to: Funny ducks posted by Bookworm on November 25, 2002
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