The plural of "moose" is ...

[Ronald Butters]

Check Google Books. "Hunting duck" is common in books on duck hunting, and that (it seems to me) is where the rubber hits the phallus.

I agree that flying ducks can be dangerous, especially if they have just eaten.

On Aug 19, 2010, at 10:58 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 10:21 AM -0400 8/19/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> "Ducks" may be an inexplicable exception, but "bird" is perhaps too generic.
>
> Maybe.  Of course "game" is pretty generic, but then it's *only*
> generic (and mass, as with "furniture" vs. "chair" or "silverware"
> vs. "spoon"), while "bird" would have to do duty for both.
>
> I was going to say "hunting duck" sounded OK to me, but given my
> outsider status for the relevant culture, I figured I'd better do a
> quick empirical check.
>
> "Hunting ducks in": about 218,000 estimated hits
> "Hunting duck in":  50 actual hits
> (a good number are irrelevant, of course, but Charlie's contrast
> comes out pretty clearly)
>
> (Of course I didn't want to check "hunting duck(s)" per se, because
> that would have brought in all those hits relating to ducks who hunt.)
>
> LH

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