Rubber duck
|
|
 |
 |
Missing image PB040005RubberDucks_fxwb.JPG Some variations on the standard rubber duck. Clockwise from left: a miniature rubber duck, a purple devil rubber duck, a rubber duck dressed as a reindeer for Christmas, a rubber duck in sunglasses, and a black "dead" rubber duck that floats upside down |
A rubber duck, or rubber duckie is a toy, shaped like a duckling, that is made of plastic, rubber or rubber-like material. Its most popular form is the rubber duck bath toy which is designed to float and to be played with in a bathtub. Ernie, a popular Muppet from Sesame Street, has helped to popularize the floating rubber duck bath toy with his song "Rubber Duckie", though rubber ducks existed long before the advent of this television show.
The history of the first rubber duck is not known but is related to the history of rubber manufacturing, early rubber (and later synthetic rubber) toys including cars and dolls, and also the history of squeak toys. Many of the earliest rubber ducks were not bath toys at all.
The rubber duck can be referred to informally as a rubber duckie or a rubber ducky. Amongst collectors of rubber ducks, the spelling rubber duckie has achieved prominence, but both spellings are considered acceptable.
Some rubber ducks may be equipped with a squeaker that makes noise when the duck is squeezed, resembling the quack of a real duck.
Today, most rubber ducks are made of vinyl plastic. Rubber ducks have achieved status as a popular icon and, while still primarily considered a children's toy, are used and loved by people of all ages. Rubber ducks are collected by a small number of enthusiasts.
With their popularity has come the ability to parody the standard rubber duck. Buyers can find them in various colors, sizes, and molded-on outfits to suit any occasion. The yellow rubber duck is iconic in at least American culture; it appears frequently in pop culture. Some charities have run rubber duck races in which hundreds or thousands of which are then dumped into a stream or river and the first one to float past the finish line is a winner. In recent years, this practice has lessened as ecologists have frowned upon what amounts to a tremendous amount of trash released into freshwater systems.
Rubber Duck is also:
- a short, flexible, rubber or plastic-coated radio antenna.
- the main character in the 1976 hit song Convoy by C.W. McCall and 1978 movie based on it.
- a Combat Rubber Raiding Craft bundled onto a wooden platform with a canopy and dropped from an aircraft with a parachute. This method is used by US Navy SEALs to deploy quickly into the ocean from various aircraft.
- a nickname for (rubber) wheeled (as opposed to caterpillar-tracked) JCBs (see J. C. Bamford)
External links
- Photos of a rubber duck derby (http://www.limeyinbermuda.com/photos/rubber_duck_derby/)
- An accidental dumping of rubber ducks mid-ocean has helped teach us about ocean currents (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/31/eveningnews/main566138.shtml)da:Badeand