Goose!
It's been an ongoing thing for quite some time.
When I was younger, I knew that the ever-strong sticky material, good for fixing anything, was known as duct tape, as in, tape for sealing ducts. After a while, I also noticed that one brand had taken the opportunity to make the substance adorable, calling it duck tape, and adding a cute little feathered friend on to the label. Fine.
But time has gone on, and I've noticed more and more brands using the duck tape name. What can I do - it makes me a bit uncomfortable. I'm sure that there's a copyright involved somewhere, and seemingly, it's being ignored. That's just me - I have a hard time with breaking laws...
But now, ACE Hardware here in Israel has solved the dilemma for us, as was pointed out to me by a friend (who for some reason wishes to remain anonymous):
Hmm, I'm not sure if you can see it from here, but feel free to click on the photo, and it will enlarge. There, in lovely Hebrew, the sticker reads:מסקינג טייפ
(a direct transliteration of masking tape)
Ha! See, no conflict any more - masking tape is good enough for us! This somehow makes me think of the Israeli tendency to call all kinds of cereal "cornflakes." What kind of cornflakes are you eating today? Ah, Cocoa Puffs! So maybe the idea is that duct tape fits into the more general masking tape category?
Or maybe it's just a mistake :)
8 comments:
I was shocked (and embarrassingly old) when I found out that it was "duct tape" and not "duck tape." And I hadn't seen it in the package, either.
Then again, I was the child who thought that "tefillin" and "film" were the same word for a time. ("'Fillin" and "Fillim"--similar, no? Both long, black, narrow, strap-like...)
Tefilin and film - what a sophisticated mix up! I wasn't as intellectual a kid - my biggest goof was imagining all those people who told me that they were traveling on the "el" riding on a gigantic "L," ala Sesame Street...
Interesting - if you look at this page:
http://www.tapuz.co.il/index/Proceed.asp?q=&p=90&o=0&c=9922
and scroll down a bit, you get this:
יש אנשים עם שגעונות שונים בעולם היום נעשה הכרה עם ג`ים וטים - צמד בחורי ה- Duct Tape, מה שבעברית מוכר כמסקינג טייפ.
And according to the site it links to:
http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/DT101/index.html
the originally name actually was "Duck Tape"!
c'mon, Balashon, let's be reasonable. That page seems to be pretty humor-based, is that what's really going to convince you?
Wikipedia on "duct tape" links to an etymology here:
http://groups.google.com.au/group/rec.music.gdead/msg/cb7b5453068f86cc?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
that, like me, is skeptical of your guys...
"What's all this talk of duck tape? Why would anybody want to tape a duck? Is the duck torn, leaking little teeny tiny feathers out all over the place? Or is some terrible person thinking of taping a duck to something? What about the feelings of the poor duck? Has anybody thought about tha--"
"Uh, Miss Latilla... Emily... that's 'duct tape.' Not duck tape."
"Duct tape? [Pause.] Never mind..."
ruti - ha!
You won't believe how many times I've seen this in either Ace or the supermarket and thought of you....
Mirj, what an honor! Thanks for thinking of me :)
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