[Ads-l] The Duck Test

[Baker, John]

There is a famous functional test, frequently used in legal reasoning and political rhetoric, for determining how something should be treated.  One formulation is "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."  This version is attributed to James Whitcomb Riley (1849 - 1916), the "Hoosier poet," who was once enormously popular and is still read today, although I cannot seem to find it in his works (which, however, I have not searched in full).

Wikipedia suggests a different, later origin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_test.  Emil Mazey, secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers, at a labor meeting in 1946 accused a person of being a communist:  "I can't prove you are a Communist. But when I see a bird that quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, has feathers and webbed feet and associates with ducks-I'm certainly going to assume that he is a duck."  Can this be antedated?

I might mention in passing that, as a guide to ornithology, the duck test is quintessentially unreliable.  As a practical approach to considering legal consequences, however, this functional test is well-regarded.


John Baker




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