who will pick up the gauntlet?

[David Colburn]

Here's the link to the full Safire column, for anyone interested:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/magazine/02ONLANGUAGE.html

Safire seems convinced that the 1940's military tape called "duck tape" was
indeed a direct precursor of what later became known as "duct tape," even
citing the manufacturer and function of the tape (Johnson & Johnson,
waterproofing ammo boxes).

The theory Safire's proposes is also repeated on this web site dedicated to
duct tape:
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/DT101/index.html

Last week, I asked the folks at that web site what their documentation was
(I didn't realize Safire was also chasing this etymology down). They
responded to me by email saying, "All I can tell you is that that's the
story we've gotten from the historians at the Johnson and Johnson Permacel
division and other duct tape companies."

I was still skeptical, but I assume Safire did his homework and didn't take
a hobbyist web site's word for it. I'm looking forward to other comments on
this, because I was surprised when I saw the "duck tape" theory being
recounted unskeptically in various publications recently. If it's true, it's
pretty fascinating.

-David Colburn

----- Original Message -----
From: "sagehen" <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: who will pick up the gauntlet?


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: who will pick up the gauntlet?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> > 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
>