Duck Duck Gray Duck (Duluth, Bloomington: transfer, schools, residential)

[AGuyFromCleveland18]

Why? Where did this originate, and why is Minnesota the only place to call the game this instead of duck duck goose like everywhere else? Is it some goofy attempt to differentiate yourselves from the rest of the country?

[DirtMagurt]

I have no idea where it came from. I grew up about half an hour across the border in another state and we played duck, duck, goose. Like normal people.

I actually asked the wife this very question last night as we were watching roller derby downtown and one girl's nickname was Grey Duck. She had no idea of the origins either.

[emcee squared]

There is a strong anti-goose movement going on here

EDIT: I love all the duck hunting advertisements that suddenly present themselves on this page (to me, at least).

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by AGuyFromCleveland18

Why? Where did this originate, and why is Minnesota the only place to call the game this instead of duck duck goose like everywhere else? Is it some goofy attempt to differentiate yourselves from the rest of the country?

Maybe the game originated here, and the rest of the country is wrong?

[uptown_urbanist]

I think it's one of those interesting regional quirks, although in this case I think it's almost exclusively Minnesota, as opposed to general upper Midwest. No idea on the origin, though, although I was pretty old before I realized that other kids play it with a goose! How boring! With the colors you get to do fun options, like "plaid duck, red duck, polka-dot duck, silver duck, and so on. I am a big Gray Duck booster.

Do we have any older native Minnesotan posters on here? I'm curious if it's always been that way, and if people remember playing it when they were kids. I'm sure the answer is in some folklore book somewhere, but I've never come across it. Then again, I've never actively searched, either. It was definitely a part of my Minnesota childhood, but that was in the 1980s, but I assume that it goes back a generation -- or two, or three -- before that.

[snofarmer]

I learned it as duck, duck, goose.
cria 1960's Duluth.

Where did duck duck grey goose? come from?

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

"grey duck" for me as well.....wife calls it "goose", told her she was wrong, a fight ensued, etc. I have NO IDEA what is right and wrong, but since my wife also says in Bah Bah Black Sheep "have you any wool, yes sir NO SIR three bags full" -- instead of YES SIR again. Hahaha, so I can use that against any of her child song knowledge!

Our poor child will be all over the map when she gets to school!

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by AGuyFromCleveland18

Why? Where did this originate, and why is Minnesota the only place to call the game this instead of duck duck goose like everywhere else? Is it some goofy attempt to differentiate yourselves from the rest of the country?

GREAT question!!!

[Ghengis]

Graduate of Indian Mounds Elementary in Bloomington in the 60's and the teachers were quite adamant about the strict adherence to use Grey Duck and significant time was spent breaking rocks in the quarry behind the school for non-compliance. More than one transfer from other states did not return from the "pile".

While predominately a Minnesotan (specifically Twin Cities) tradition, by some accounts, areas of Western Wisconsin were equally split between the duck and goose reference.

Duck Duck Goose - Duck Duck Grey Duck - Mister Poll

Seems pretty stupid to me that the rest of the country would fail to see the absurdity of playing the game, categorizing the other players as regular ducks and then not trigger the mayhem expected by tapping the obvious choice of the Grey duck. Who said anything about a goose, might as well be called Duck, Duck, Aardvark. Goose indeed. Get with the program America.

1984 Presidential General Election Results

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Do we have any older native Minnesotan posters on here? I'm curious if it's always been that way, and if people remember playing it when they were kids. I'm sure the answer is in some folklore book somewhere, but I've never come across it. Then again, I've never actively searched, either. It was definitely a part of my Minnesota childhood, but that was in the 1980s, but I assume that it goes back a generation -- or two, or three -- before that.

Dunno what "older" means, but I learned it as Duck Duck Grey Duck in Hopkins Schools in the late 60's.