A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a duckling that is made of actual
rubber or rubber-like material. The most popular incarnation of the rubber duck is the rubber duck bath toy which is
designed to float and to be played with in the bath. Ernie, the popular character, from
Sesame Street and the related song "Rubber Duckie" has helped to
popularize the floating rubber duck bath toy. However, rubber ducks existed long before the advent of the Sesame Street
television show. A rubber ducky also appears on the logo of Ozy and
Millie.
The history of the first rubber duck seems to have been lost with time. However, we do know that the history of rubber ducks
is related to the history of rubber manufacturing, early rubber (and later synthetic
rubber) toys including cars and dolls, and also the history of squeak toys. Many of the earliest rubber ducks were not bath toys
at all.
The rubber duck can be referred to informally as a rubber duckie or a rubber ducky. Amongst collectors of rubber
ducks, the spelling rubber duckie has achieved prominence, but both spellings are considered acceptable.
Some rubber ducks may be equipped with a squeaker that makes noise when the
duckie is squeezed, resembling the quack of a real duck.
Today, most rubber ducks are made of vinyl plastic. Rubber ducks have achieved status as a popular icon and, while still primarily considered a children's
toy, are used and loved by people of all ages. Rubber ducks are collected by a small number of enthusiasts.
With their longstanding popularity has come the ability to parodize the standard rubber duckie; buyers can find them in
various colors, sizes, and molded-on outfits to suit any occasion. The yellow rubber duckie is iconic in at least American
culture; it appears almost anywhere at almost any time, sometimes in mass quantities. Some charities have run rubber duckie
races, in which hundreds of donors "buy" rubber ducks, hundreds or thousands of which are then dumped into a stream or river and
the first one to float past the finish line is a winner. In recent years, this practice has lessened as ecologists have frowned
upon what amounts to a tremendous amount of trash released into freshwater systems.
Rubber Duck can also refer to a Combat
Rubber Raiding Craft bundled onto a wooden platform with a canopy and dropped from an aircraft with a parachute. This method
is used by US Navy SEALs to deploy quickly into the ocean from various
aircraft.
Rubber Duck can also refer to a short, flexible, rubber or plastic-coated radio
antenna.
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