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Why do South Yorkshire people call each other Duck?
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My Gran from Staffordshire always called me "Ducks" even into my late 30's!
I've no idea where the term comes from but as she was the only one to call me that (I live in Scotland) I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when I hear it lol
I suppose, as it's obviously a term of endearment, the purpose of the term is to liken you to something cute, appealing or attractive, like a little duck!
On the other hand being called "Ducky" probably has an altogether different etymology!
It's more of a Nottingham thing, as I can easily testify. "Eh up me duck" was used by most people over there. Personally I get offended if someone called me "duck" as basically I am not a duck.
I suppose that it is harmless as someone from Liverpool calling someone a "mate" or someone from Glasgow calling someone a "laddie" or something.
Betty Driver aka Betty Turpin in Cornation Street, being East Midlands born birth was sometimes heard to use the word "duck" to customers while flogging her hotpots in the Rover's Return.
'Duck' has been a term of endearment since the 1500s. Shakespeare himself used it in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'...mind you, he was a sort of Midlander, wasn't he?
However, lots of writers from times past who came from other parts of England also used it in the same way. I suspect, therefore, that it started out as a widespread usage and only afterwards became localised to South Yorkshire, Derby, Nottingham or wherever.
However, lots of writers from times past who came from other parts of England also used it in the same way. I suspect, therefore, that it started out as a widespread usage and only afterwards became localised to South Yorkshire, Derby, Nottingham or wherever.
Think you'll find that the heartland of the endearment 'duck' is North Staffordshire espcially the Potteries where its use is extensive and it has spread from there....I know people from Sheffield who never use it...people from Notts who've never heard of it...
It is said to find its origin in the Saxon word �ducas� which was meant as a term of respect; similar to the Middle English �duc�, �duk� which denotes a leader, commander; from which comes the title �Duke� and the Old French word �duche� - the territory ruled by a Duke.
From these origins it became a greeting and then a term of endearment.
This use of �duck� as a greeting is not restricted to the Potteries; although the use here is very common. It is still used an many parts of what was Mercia.
Even though they have very different dialects from the Potteries the greeting is used in the Black Country, in Derbyshire, as far east as Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire. In Yorkshire the main term of greeting is �luv� but in Sheffield, which is close to the Yorkshire � Derbyshire border the greeting �Ey up mi duck� can be heard.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses the phrase �O dainty Ducke: O Deere!� as a term of endearment.
Many of the differences of a dialect compared with standard English are to do with grammar and pronunciation. Even though a dialect can be difficult to follow, with a little care and patient the average person can work out what is being said.
However many dialects have words that are unique to a particular area and the speaker would not know what the word meant if used in isolation. The greeting �duck� is an example.
(Thanks to BBC Stoke for most of the above!!)
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