antedating duck tape 1899

Thu Oct 18 15:16:17 UTC 2007

There are several types of fabric tapes used in tailoring & dressmaking,
for trimming, reinforcing and binding. Some
of these are cut from broadcloth and have their edges folded under, and
some are woven as tape, that is, selvedged
so that they can't unravel.  The "duck tape" of these entries is probably
of the latter type.  I think the adoption of
"duck tape" as the name of the later adhesive-type of tape is a misnomer
for "duct tape," a kind of water-based
adhesive tape used to seal the joints in furnace ducts, which, in turn
became the prototype of the contact- adhesive
tape we all use to hold stuff together today.  We discussed "duct-" and
"duck-" tape here several years ago.
AM

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:19:24 -0400
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: antedating "duck tape" 1899

>OED has 1902
>
>1899 The Daily Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) Wednesday, February 08,
>1899; pg. 3;
>Issue 15; col E [19th C US Newspapers]
>      Woman?s World and Work Menu for Thursday Jeannie M. Gordon,
> Corresponding
>Secretary of the Era Club.
>Category: News [col. F]
>...In the washable suits for later wear pique and duck tape take the lead,
>especially in white and dark blue.
>
>1907 San Jose Mercury News, published as Sunday Mercury and Herald;  Date:
>05-19-1907;  Volume: LXXII;  Issue: 139;  Page: 4; [America's Historical
>Newspapers] Adv.
>Girdle corsets  ...The Paris Model Corset...a good strong tape girdle made
of
>silk finished duck tape, boned with heavy steels.

What is the sense of "duck tape" here? A type of tape? If so, what is
the sense of "tape"? More-or-less "fabric strip"? I assume "duck"
means the type of fabric?

If "duck tape" here means "tape made of duck" how did it "take the
lead" in "washable suits"? As ornamentation? Or was the whole suit
made of duck tape?

And if it's just "tape made of duck" does it merit an entry in the
dictionary? If it does, I suppose "canvas tape", "linen tape", etc.
get entries too? [I see from the same time period (e.g.) linen tape
girdles.] Or does the special collocation "duck tape" (used later for
a type of adhesive tape) drag in its ancestor?

I can't find "duck tape" in my poor-man's OED at a glance.

-- Doug Wilson

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