Ducks in a Row (1938)

[Baker, John]

        The modern sense of "ducks in a row" implies preparation for some task that can be completed easily and efficiently if proper preparatory steps have been taken, and that's supported by Barry's 1938 cite.  Other early cites, though, suggest that it may just have referred to being organized or in good order.  The reference, then, would be to the tendency of ducks to follow each other in a line (in "Make Way for Ducklings," anyway).  From 1948:

>>Since claimant's injuries from said accident, he has done many queer things which indicate his mental incompetence. For example, on one occasion he was arrested and put under a $200.00 bond for being drunk and driving recklessly, when he had not been drinking. This was soon after the accident, on November 2, 1943. He would leave Orlando with a definite town as his destination and end up somewhere else without knowing why he was there. His employer found that he could not 'keep his ducks in a row.'<<

Thomas v. Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co., 160 Fla. 687, 36 So.2d 377 (Fla. Jul 13, 1948).


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: Bapopik at AOL.COM [mailto:Bapopik at AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 3:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Razzberry (1921); Mexican Jumping Bean (1922); Bagel (1965);
Ducks in a Row (1938)

DUCKS IN A ROW

   I'll be in Beijing in a few days and I'm trying to get my Peking ducks in a row.  Who knew it was this early?

   20 November 1938, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 167:
   However, the paucity of predecessors has not impressed Mr. (Leslie--ed.) Howard anything like as much as the trail which they have blazed, and he is right now in New York getting his financial ducks in a row so he can soon go back to jolly old England and pitch it.

   7 July 1946, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 67:
   Even before leaving the Executive Mansion late Wednesday with Mrs. Truman the President had impressed his visitors as a man who had got his ducks in a row and was about to have some fun.

(From the carnival game of shooting ducks?  When was this game started?  Did the ducks fall into a duck soup?--ed.)