Urban Legends

Duck Echos

The Legend

If a duck is standing on the edge of a cliff facing another cliff and yells, it will not echo.

(variant)

If a duck quacks in the forest and there is nobody around to hear, it will not echo.

(variant)

If you yell "Who put the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder" to far-away ducks, the ducks will not respond, "We can't hear you, shout a little louder."

Behind the Legend

These silly bits of "trivia" are not only trivial but also untrue. Most likely the first (original) version is a folkloric muddling of two obvious facts:

Bats are unable to find ducks through echolocation, and
If you throw a duck off a cliff, it will not bounce.

All information on this site is, to the best of our knowledge, false.
If any significant true information has slipped through, we apologize.
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