Duck soup

[Michael Quinion]

> Careful etymologies, while fully aware of the vagaries of sound
> over time and contact, would not, in my opinion, simply exploit,
> list-like, those which come to mind first.

But how, without proposing and investigating hypotheses, are you to
know which are the "careful etymologies"? Experience and background
knowledge can take you a long way, of course. But with an expression
as opaque as "duck soup" that may not be very far. I put an origin
forward as a possible etymology for consideration by members of the
list, not as one that should be taken as correct by anyone without
confirmatory evidence. If list contributors think it was a careless
etymology, it would be nice to have some considered arguments as to
why rather than sarcastic comments.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>