A scapular would make a very small pincushion.

"Qui vous a mis dans cette fichue position?"

" - C'est le pigeon, Joseph. "

"Mais non, Marie--c'est un canard!"

That’s faster than Cory Doctorow.

Maybe too fast....

Have you submitted this to YouSuckAtCraigslist.com?

Is this a duck taper?

Also: Dove or duck, that's one silly-looking bird! And then there's the dragonfly (?) sitting on it's head....

My favorite ebay antiquities listing was from a few years back: A "Roman tobacco pipe with vegetation from the Dead Sea."

For sale... Copy of the Necronomicon. Barely used.

I'm so delighted by the thought of the Holy Duck ascending that I hardly care about the rest of it.

Duck or dove, I'm not blessing myself in something that came gushing out of a bird's mouth.

I've heard back from the vendor again, who makes a good point. I have accordingly posted another addendum to the main entry, corrected myself, and dropped a note to Gadgets for God.

Why a duck?

The Romans were famous for their aqua ducks.

It looks more like a dove than a duck to me, although it still is definitely rather duckish. I'd bet that the webbed feet are an artifact of construction, so that the little toes don't snap off.

Joel @ 12: Azurely we knew that.

I could just teal that this thread was going to go this way.

One of its legs are both the same.

I'm now riven with thoughts of T.S. Eliot rewriting Little Gidding:

The duck descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror.

That would alter the mallardy a bit.

I find myself being reminded that, circa 1980, someone showed up in a con masquerade as Duck Savage.

And I said, Oh that I had feet like a duck! Then would I swim away, and be at rest.

Will Macaulay @ 11... :-)

Will Macaulay #11: No, no: Vy a duck?

18
Jack Harness. Google is finding a photo of it, from 1974.

Reading Jack Harness as Jack Harkness @22 is a very good way to ruin keyboards.

Kip, #9: Better the mouth than the other end!

Clearly the Cosmic Axis has shifted and the font is trapped in a world it never made.

I plan to eBay some of my comic book collection soon. I dread the prospect; it feels like selling off children to make sure the rest are fed.

Why not a duck?

I dunno. My uncle, who was Catholic and whose wife was Italian, had decorative wall fonts a lot like that in his house. I'm pretty sure they weren't used for holy water, although I admit he was quite devout.

I've seen similar ones in other houses whose decor was Italian-inspired. They are always two pieces with a spigot on the bottom side of the top piece. I've never seen either water or plants (some look planter-like in the top segment) in one.

Well, no matter why this is a duck, I do know how to fix one should it break: with duck tape.

What is the difference between a duck?
One of its webbed feet is both the same.

I will be posting beaded projects from Beading For A Cure (non-profit that raises money for colon cancer research) starting at about 3pm ET tomorrow and every following Sunday (except the one before Easter) until 5/2. Have a look.

Ginger @ 29: Yup, duck tape is very useful for fixing a wide variety of quacked items.

Re: Vy a duck?

I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself

Leroy F. Berven @32: That's absolutely true; it's not just a canard.

I think what we're looking at here is a lavabo, a water-container-and-basin setup intended for the washing of hands -- originally a piece of liturgical equipment, but one that spun off secular versions. These days, they get repurposed a lot as decorative wall planters or containers for floral arrangements, like this one here.

I believe the preacher in Blazing Saddles was going to read from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Duck.

Lavabo, as in "I will wash"?

That rhymes well with Isabeau (from Ladyhawke).

Teresa@37: Lavabo, as in "I will wash"?

Yep.

"Lavabo" is also the French word for "bathroom sink." (As opposed to "kitchen sink," which is "évier," which is where we get "ewer.")

Am I the only one reminded of the Bishop's Bird Stump?

TexAnne #40: As opposed to "kitchen sink," which is "évier," which is where we get "ewer."

Ah, so "Evian" is French for "tap water" (aka "water from the kitchen sink")? heh.

Soon Lee @41 This duck hasn't anything like that level of impossible, glorious gaucherie.

Though for a duck, it's certainly making an effort.

#35: I think what we're looking at here is a lavabo

Indeed! Zat I should wash my 'ands in such a ridiculous device? Is lavabo! Hah!

TexAnne @ 40... "Lavabo" is also the French word for "bathroom sink."

Oui, oui! And here is a photo of one. Please note that they don't normally come equipped with cats.

Earl, 42: I can't always tell when people are joking (too many idiot boys laughing at the "surrender monkeys" will do that to you) but "Evian" is actually the name of the town where the springs are. The fact that it's "naive" spelled backwards is just a glorious coincidence.

TexAnne @46, when I use the word "heh", it's meant to be a clear sign that I'm joking (or sometimes indulging in self-deprecation). I prefer it to emoticons, as it can be nuanced by context rather than codified by ASCII.

Another of my favorite willful culinary misinterpretations is that "vindaloo" means "wine of the toilet". heh. Ah, there it is again, so useful....

'Eau de toilette' sounds so much classier than what dogs like to drink out of the porcelain bowl.

wanna buy a duck?

a what?

a duck.

does it vomit holy water?

of course it vomits holy water. it's a duck.

Duck! Dove! Duck! Dove! ...

Anybody else remembers Star Trek's episode "Day of the Duck"?

51
Wasn't that the one where the duck swooped down on the landing party and grabbed the captain?

Not to be confused with "Day of the Road Runner".

I suppose a duck is preferable to a seagull, in this context (and in most others).

PJ Evans @ 52... You're thinking of the one where the late Ted Cassidy plays a tall artificial fowl called Duck.

Let's not forget Shakespeare's "Cry havoc and let loose the ducks of War!"

Randolph (50): When my buddy yelled "Duck!," I dove for cover.

Don Johnson was quite young when he starred in the film of Ellison's "A Boy and His Duck".

The childhood game Duck, Duck, Holy Water

58
I don't know that one. We played Freeze Duck, though, and Red Duck, Green Duck.

Doves were traditional, but the twin requirements for piped water and splashproof surfaces lead to the widespread introduction of waterfowl as part of plumbing fixtures instead - the architects specified something very ductile.

so no fans of ulysses, then.

P J Evans (59): Better known as Duck, Duck, Goose (or, I understand, ...Gray Duck).

This "duck" has FOUR webbed toes. If the existence of real ducks with three webbed toes implies porcelain ducks with four, then having porcelain ducks with four must imply the existence of WICKER ducks with FIVE toes, and so on, until eventually you get to decorative wall-ducks carved out of marble with an infinite number of toes.

Which I guess just shows what happens when you misuse inducktive reasoning.

The lavabo theory sounds about right; I'm sure I've seen something similar, but duckless, in Italy. Not sure how I'd feel about washing my hands in something that had been vomited up by a duck, though.

It did remind me of this impressive Victorian version, from the Victoria and Albert Museum. There's a tank for water at the top, and the water comes out through a bronze goat. Much more sensible...

Forte dux fell fiat inde riva.

hapax, 65: That's from the same codex as "Civili, dirigo," isn't it?

Whaddaya mean, sinks "don't normally come equipped with cats"?

Earl Cooley III @ #47

Please don't make me post the Bohemian Curry Song[1]

Cadbury.
[1] To the obvious Queen number

Serge - I think my grandkittie looks a lot like Agatha

His needs were few, his room was bare
A lavabo and a fancy chair
And those who thought him a simple clod
Were -- DUCK!! (too late)

His needs were few, his room was bare
A lavabo and a fancy chair
And those who thought him a simple clod
Were -- DUCK!! (too late)

Whoopsie. Whoopsie. (Still figuring out Firefox...)

Dawno @ 69.... I wonder if your grandkittie and Agatha are entangled particles.

Theophylact @ 67... A site dedicated to kitties in sinks? Oh my.

Serge @73 We need to set up an experiment! I'm out of vacuum tubes right now, but I have plenty of copper wire.

It does look a bit more dovelike if you mentally subtract the painted decorations and picture it as plain white.

I'm also not at all sure those little fanlike bits partway up are actually webbed feet -- can anyone tell what they're made of? I'd suspect them of being added metal froufrou bits.

Also, it doesn't have a duckbill.

M R DUCKS!

75
Not all ducks have duckbills, either.

If you say the magic word, will it give you $100?

tykewriter #78: No, it doesn't have a duck bill!

But does it quack like a duck?

Duck! Dove! Duck! Dove!

Fire!
.
.
.
.
You're despicable.

O for the feet, for the feet of a duck!
Far away, far away would I swim.
O for the feet, for the feet of a duck!
Far away, far away,
Far away, far away would I swim.

In a muddy place build me a nest...

* BANG *

(Singer swims within range of a punt gun and is mercifully shot.)

Aquamaniles (jugs used for pouring water over priests' hands) traditionally were animal or bird shaped; and the water comes out through their "mouths", or through a tube coming out of their "chests". So if you're going to be grossed out by this sort of thing, or by it being used at Mass, you're a bit late to the party.

Other than the obvious waterfowl thing, I haven't really been able to find any hagiographical significance to the duck. Isidore's etymological fun associated "anas" (duck) with "natare" (to swim). Pretty much anything that swims in water is good for Christian/baptismal symbolism.

Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.

An ironic entry, given the Regretsy thread running concurrently. Did the SPAMbot misfire?

At #86.

Not even spam-word-salad, at 87.

at #87.

No comment history and an incomplete comment.