Duck Tape

Duck Tape™ used to be called duck tape, though for most of my life it was referred to as duct tape.

No, I don’t need more coffee before I start writing today. I need to clarify a few things, though. First off, Duck Tape is a brand name from the late 20th century—a relative newcomer in our story. A company named ShurTech Brands owned the trademark for the name, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that we saw the brand everywhere duct tape had previously been sold.

Or, rather, a product had been sold as duct tape for a long time at these places, and now there was an identical product (essentially identical, anyway) called Duck Tape.

Every kid I knew made it a point to show you how grown up they were by correcting other kids when they called it duck tape. Every adult knew that this incredibly sticky, durable stuff was used for duct work, like those used in HVAC systems. Duh!

No, not duh—duct.

Anyway, the irony here is that we smart kids who were so eager to show off how much of that etymological history we knew? We were wrong.

It was originally called duck tape.

The US military developed tape specifically to seal ammunition cases. This tape needed to be water-resistant, so a particular type of fabric called cotton duck cloth backing was used. Folks, you can’t make stuff like this up, but duck doesn’t really mean duck here. It’s the Dutch word doek, which means cloth.

Of course, water rolls right off of a duck’s back, and the US military speaks English. The informal name duck tape rolls right off the tongue.

Post-war, this tape was extremely useful in HVAC duct work, and there was a big market for home improvement products as the baby boomers were born and families grew. Today, ask any HVAC repair person and they will tell you the truth: that duck tape (or duct tape) is no good for ducts. The adhesive dries up and stops working too quickly under heat, and the fabric tears apart. Instead, they use a specifically designed foil tape.

From ducks to ducts to Ducks.