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rubber duck

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The quintessential yellow rubber duck
Some variations on the standard rubber duck. Clockwise from left: a miniature rubber duck, a purple devil rubber duck, a rubber duck dressed as a reindeer for Christmas, a rubber duck in sunglasses, and a black "dead" rubber duck that floats upside down

A rubber duck, or rubber duckie, is a toy shaped like a duck that is made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic. Almost all modern rubber ducks are made out of vinyl plastic rather than rubber. Most commonly, rubber ducks are designed to be used as floating bathtub toys.

Not all rubber ducks are bath toys. Some rubber ducks are dolls or play figures similar to other squeeze or squeak toys typically given to children and sometimes dogs. Rubber ducks can be found in various colors, sizes, shapes, and outfits. Rubber ducks have achieved status as a popular icon and, while still primarily considered a children's toy, are used by people of all ages. Some adult stores now sell vibrating rubber ducks.

Rubber ducks may be equipped with a squeaker that makes a whistling or squeaking sound. More rarely the toy may have a squeaker that makes a sound resembling the quack of a real duck. Bath toy ducks sometimes have a hole in the bill which allows the toy to take in and then squirt water.

The rubber duck has become a popular form factor for USB flash drives. These devices are not intended to be used as bath toys.

The history of the first rubber duck is not known, but its history is inevitably linked to that of rubber manufacturing, the development of early rubber (and later synthetic rubber) toys including cars and dolls, and the advent of squeak toys which dates to at least the late 1800s. Although squeak toys are often thought of as dog toys, many people still enjoy the squeaking rubber duck. The earliest rubber ducks were made from harder rubber and lacked squeakers.

Ernie, a popular Muppet from Sesame Street, has helped to popularize the floating rubber duck bath toy with his song "Rubber Duckie", though rubber ducks existed long before the advent of this television show. The yellow rubber duck has achieved an iconic status in American pop culture. In the United States the rubber duck is often symbolically linked to bathing or bath tubs and to babies and toddlers.

As the rubber duck has grown in popularity over the years, many variants are sold including "devil ducks" and "dead ducks".

In 2001 a popular British tabloid newspaper reported that Queen Elizabeth II has a rubber duck that wears an inflatable crown in her bathroom. The duck was spotted by a workman who was repainting her bathroom and later reported it to The Sun newspaper. The story prompted sales of rubber ducks in the United Kingdom to increase by 80% for a short period.

Rubber ducks are collected by a small number of enthusiasts in countries including: Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, the United States, and the Netherlands. The Guinness World Record for World's Largest Rubber Duck Collection numbered 1,437 unique rubber ducks in 2003.

The rubber duck can be referred to informally as a rubber duckie or a rubber ducky. Amongst collectors of rubber ducks, the spelling rubber duckie has achieved prominence, but both spellings are considered acceptable.

Some charities have run rubber duck races in which hundreds or thousands of rubber ducks are dumped into a river, pool, or other body of water and then are floated down a race course marked off with buoys. The first one to float past the finish line is a winner. (This is similar to the game Poohsticks.) The rubber ducks are then retrieved and used again later. Due to environmental concerns, sites for duck races must be chosen with care.

One of these famous rubber duck races is the Great Knoxville Rubber Duck Race. This race received attention when the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that it was a lottery, which stopped the race for a few years. After the state amended their constitution to allow lotteries with special exceptions, the race was reinstituted.In 2006 the river Liffey in Dublin hosted the worlds largest duck race with 150,000 ducks.

Rubber ducks are used in small quanties as hearding targets for radio controled model yachts, the objective being to move all of the loose ducks into a floating pen.

Rubber ducks in movies and popular culture

  • In the country song Convoy (1975), by C. W. McCall, the truck driver protagonist uses the CB radio handle "Rubber Duck". In the 1978 film based on the song, the Rubber Duck character is played by Kris Kristofferson. McCall also did a sequel song, Round the World with the Rubber Duck, which appears on his 1976 album, Rubber Duck. In CB (and other types of radio) terminology, a "rubber duck" often refers to a compact, helical, antenna with a vinyl or rubber coating for protection against weather.
  • In the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the character Arthur Weasley, on meeting Harry Potter for the first time, says: "Now, Harry you must know all about Muggles, tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?".
  • In the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), the character Truth says: "Don't look! Quick! Think of a yellow, rubber duck!"
  • Megatron, leader of the Predacons in Transformers: Beast Wars, has a rubber duck that can be seen when he bathes.
  • In "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Series, the Captain of the "B" Ark (Who is constantly taking a bath) in the Golgafrincham Ark Fleet has a rubber duck. The Captain claims, "One's never alone with a rubber duck."
  • The second album of Bootsy's Rubber Band includes a song, "Rubber Duckie".
  • Sesame Street character Ernie has a rubber duck as his "bathtime friend", and has even composed two songs dedicated to his duck.

References

  • Internet Movie Database page on Convoy
  • Internet Movie Database quotes from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Internet Movie Database quotes from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Rubber ducks
  • Celebrity Rubber Ducks
  • Rubber Ducks from all over the world!
  • Photos of a rubber duck derby
  • An accidental dumping of rubber ducks mid-ocean has helped teach us about ocean currents
  • Article on the BBC website about Queen Elizabeth II's rubber duck
  • Duckplanet.com: A popular website about rubber ducks and rubber duck collecting
  • Rubber duck news, information, FAQs, and pictures
  • Site with many product pictures of Rubber Duckies
  • Duckies On The Web (a page that's been around over 10 years with all sorts of links to ducky things)
Search Term: "Rubber_duck"

rubber duck news and rubber duck articles

Here's our top rated rubber duck links for the day:

Duck Race raises thousands for education foundation 

The Dalton Daily Citizen - Mar 31 9:08 PM
TUNNEL HILL Thousands of ducks bobbed their way down the creek in Tunnel Hills Griffin Park Saturday morning, but nary a quack was heard. This was no mass migration.
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The hip, cool and ugly 
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Apr 01 3:06 AM
For the hipsters whove already moved on from the objects the rest of us are desiring, the new must-have items may seem, to an untrained eye, a bit uncool. For spring, all things ugly rule.
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Travel calendar 
Contra Costa Times - Apr 01 3:26 AM
Flower Fields of Carlsbad -- Through mid-May. The public can visit nearly 50 acres of flowers in full bloom, weather permitting. 760-431-0352, www.theflowerfields.com.
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Local Beat 
Corsicana Daily Sun - Mar 31 11:13 PM
This column is designed to give our local readers a place to put news and events that are important to them and others in the community. Local news such as public meetings, luncheons, events and other non-club local items for not-for-profit associations are listed in this column.
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Briefly in Tompkins 
The Ithaca Journal - Mar 31 3:04 AM
Clean-up of the proposed Black Diamond Trail will happen from 9 a.m. to noon today.
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Whimsical toy shop sparks kids' imagination 
The News-Press - Mar 30 10:29 PM
This is where grandparents buy toys deemed special enough for those they wish to spoil.
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The Richmond.com Top Five 
Richmond.com - Mar 30 4:09 AM
You may not have asked, but we're telling you anyways. This week: Road trip songs
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Current Issue: 
UCD Advocate - Mar 30 3:17 AM
This week's opinion column is brought to you by the word no. I say no to building a thirty-foot wall around Sesame Street to keep migrant muppets from walking our street.
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Workers commended for duck die-off efforts 
The Lake County Record-Bee - Mar 28 12:08 AM
LAKEPORT -- When avian cholera swept across Clear Lake and claimed the lives of thousands of ducks in mid-January, Lake County's finest stepped up to help with the cleanup efforts, a huge factor in keeping it from spreading even farther. One by one, each was recognized Tuesday for his or her help.
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Revenge of the Nerds 
Provo Daily Herald - Mar 28 2:10 AM
For the hipsters who've already moved on from the objects the rest of us are desiring, the new must-have items may seem, to an untrained eye, a bit uncool. For spring, all things ugly rule. L.L. Bean has been producing its classic, cumbersome duck shoes since 1912 -- my mother's been gardening in them for years.
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Last Update: 2007-04-01 07:12:45

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