who will pick up the gauntlet?

[sagehen]

> From the Safire "On Language" piece published in tomorrow's NYT
>Magazine, p. 24:
>
>[on "duck tape"]
>The earliest civilian use I can find is in an advertisement by
>Gimbels department store in June 1942 (antedating the O.E.D. entry by
>three decades--nobody but nobody beats this column), which
>substitutes our product for the "ladder tape" that usually holds
>together Venetian blinds.  For $2.99, Gimbels--now defunct--would
>provide blinds "in cream with cream tape or in white with _duck
>tape_."
>
>=============
>Nobody but nobody can beat this June 1942 cite?   In any case, the
>above certainly does improve noticeably on the 1971 entry I currently
>find in the OED on-line (added Dec. 2001).  What gives?
>
>larry
~~~~~~~~~~
Huh? "Duck tape" here is NOT the sticky stuff, properly "duct tape"
(originally intended for use in taping the joints in hot air ducts leading
from a furnace plenum to registers), but simply  (double) white fabric
tape, in this case with little woven-in straps connecting the two tapes to
support the venetian blind slats.
Think white duck trousers, summer wear, sailing wear, tennis wear, &c.
A. Murie