Self The Difference Between a Duck Written by: Jerry2 Mood: Confused Date: May 22, 2002
My high school geography teacher entered the classroom one day and asked the class: "What is the difference between a duck?" We all stared at him blankly and thought he was crazy. Then, once we accepted this truth (for the man was crazy ... he owned a single white sweater ... though, by the time our class had him freshman year, the white had faded to a lovely and becoming dirt color) we began shouting out the obvious: "Between a duck and what?!"


The man smiled and simply repeated the question: "What is the difference between a duck".


We began shouting out answers: water, wings, feathers, bill, a pond.


Again, he smiled.


We eventually grew tired of this game and demanded the answer from him. Finally, he said: "I can't tell you the answer, you need to discover it."


Seven years later, I still ask myself that question ... and with seven years of additional experience, I can make a childish crack at the answer, though I know that I'm still young, still have much to experience, still have a long way to grow.


I submit to you, lovely voyeurs, this question ... think on it a bit, it's deeper than you may believe.

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Jasmin Date: Jun 18, 2004
The Answer IS: "One of its legs is both the same, and it bangs its head together when it walks." But I don't get it.
zener42 Date: Jun 24, 2004
The answer is: "Oranges. Because motorcycles don't have doors."
aduck Date: Jun 27, 2004
the diffrence between a duck is that people are too stupid to realise that this is a trick question and has no awnser.
donkeyrapeingshiteater Date: Jun 27, 2004
On land it is running, in the water it is swimming
BolliverShagnasty Date: Aug 07, 2004
The higher it flies, the much.
s43ed Date: Sep 13, 2004
One goes quack.
ash Date: Sep 24, 2004
The ending: "I forget the rest but your mother's a whore."
Mark Beilby Date: Oct 14, 2004
The answer is; "one of its legs are both the same." end of story.

This is my favourite joke of all time. I laughed my head of when I first heard it 20 years ago. Think about it. You are asking to compare something with......not even itself, it is singular.

So the answer is equally in the response, one of its legs (singular), are both (duel)the same. Everything in the joke encompasses the singular duck.

It is a play on the singular and the dual.

What makes it funny, I don't know? I have told this joke over and over, (hence my response to this web site as I have just mentioned it again.) I think you get the humour straight away or never will. My wife still doesn't understand it, 15 years later.



Doug Marks Date: Nov 22, 2004
Many years ago my elderly uncle would tell me this joke about every time I would visit him. I would just laugh because it was so stupid I wasn't even sure if it was a joke. I'm sorry that I never asked him to explain it.

My uncle passed away many years ago and I became the executor of his estate. So, even today I receive junk mail in his name. I received a piece today and started thinking about his joke and smiled. I recited it to my wife to see if she got it. At first I couldn't even remember the punch line. Anyway, that's what brought me here. I decided it's got to be on the Internet someplace.

My Uncle's version was a bit different than what I've seen here but the true meaning is apparently the same as submitted in the previous post.

Question: What's the difference between a duck?
Answer: There is none. They're both the same.

I finally get it.
Mike Fulker Date: Jan 04, 2005
One of it's legs is both the same.
&drew Date: Jan 24, 2005
"One lays both the same" is the way I heard it.

kdvett1 Date: Jan 31, 2005
I have always heard it this way:
One of it's webbed feet are both the same.
ok Date: Feb 02, 2005
CAKE
Crispy Date: Feb 09, 2005
I've always heard the answer as "False, because there are no bones in ice cream."
Johnnie A. Date: Feb 15, 2005
One leg is both the same.
Joni Date: Feb 17, 2005
Why don't you ask one?
thumbs Date: Feb 17, 2005
...yeah, what that chick above me said, 'cept fer the words part.
Harley Date: Mar 06, 2005
One of it's legs is not the same, and (holding out your hands as if demonstrating it's size) it's about this color.
Harley Date: Mar 06, 2005
Oops, I put and apostrophe in "its" -- three times!
Harley Date: Mar 06, 2005
Geez, I misspelled "an"!
Mark Takefman Date: Mar 16, 2005
Duck Difference, is a Zen Koan. Koans are a method of training the mind in order to achieve the state of Satori. Most people are put off by the question because it is not the type of question they are used to. To understand the question you need to "think outside the box" so to speak. Or see the world and your mind from new and other perspectives. As this is very hard to do, Zen masters try to get your mind to stop it's constant chatter and think in a new way. Like what is the sound of one hand clapping and when is a mouse when it spins.
The answers are only what you understand them to be, nothing more.
DocUnk Date: Apr 14, 2005
My Dad used to tell that joke, with the answer (appearing several times in previous posts) "one of his feet are both the same." That was maybe 20 years ago. Imagine my surprise when recently watching an old movie (1940's) on TCM and Ish Kabibble, a kooky performer in Kay Kyser's band told the same joke!
STEVE Date: May 30, 2005
REGARDING THE ABOVE- YES, I GUESS ISH KABIBBLE MUST'VE KNOWN YOUR DAD! (SNICKER...)
Kelso Date: Aug 25, 2005
I worked at a summer camp this summer and heard this joke. There are two possible answers, as I know it. They are: One of it's legs are the same. And: A vest has no sleeves.

We were asked this question, and I got the first correct answer 3 days later (the first one of the couselors to get it). They told me the "second correct answer" which I still don't understand how it is correct.
andabagofchips Date: Sep 15, 2005
The difference between a duck is
Russell Watt Date: Sep 19, 2005
Sorry for the length of this posting

Many many many years ago when I was a young boy, I read a series of "Choose your Own Adventure" type of books called Grailquest (They weren't exactly "Choose Your Own Adventure"). One of the questions you had to answer in the book was the question "What is the difference between a duck" and if you gave the answer "one of its legs is both the same" and went to the appropriate page, the character does a bit of a song and dance number (well verbally anyway) and replies (in part) "It was the Riddle of the Sphinx" What is the difference ... This one is easy me thinks and loudly proclaim ... One of its legs ..." I was wondering if it might have had some link back to the Egyptians, after all weren't they the ones who had the Sphynx?

Regards.

Russell
Jerry2 Site Admin Date: Sep 19, 2005
Sphinx? Hmm, don't know about that ... according to Greek Mythology, the Sphinx's riddle is:

"Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?"

... nice try though ;)
Bernard Coleslaw Date: Jan 06, 2006
The sphinx riddle refers to the ages of man.

A baby (in the morning of its life) crawls on all fours. A grown man (at the noon of his life) walks on two feet. An old man (in the evening of his life) uses a stick (goes on three).
passed by sensors Date: Jan 11, 2006
The answer to "What is the difference between a duck" is
"One of its feet is both the same"

And don't forget to
Boniface Date: Feb 06, 2006
It's so glaringly obvious! Always, always, always, one leg is both the same.
Elphis Little Date: Feb 18, 2006
You people have way too much time on your hands.
Kytaseth Date: Mar 17, 2006
I think the answer about the play on singuars and duals is the best description here...but then again that is my opinion and i still don't fully answer it. I am going to do some research on zen koans but i think that it the answer "one leg is both the same" does not make any sense. Can someone try and explain the answer to me? Thanks.
AHeinz Date: Mar 17, 2006
It's not supposed to make sense, traditionally. It's simply designed to make you think, and hopefully make you think in a different way then you are used to.
Greydemon Date: Apr 06, 2006
I first heard this riddle around thirty years ago and have never forgotten it, and often repeated it. Fot no logical reason I get upset when I hear answers different to mine, even if only very slightly different.

The correct answer has been given above, all other answers are undoubtedly false. How do I know this? Because the Universe, including all of you, is just a figment of my imagination and when I die you all disappear.

And the REAL correct answer, letter perfect, is ....One of it's legs is both the same.

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