The military called the waterproof, cloth-backed, green tape 100-mile-per-hour tape because they could use it to fix anything, from fenders on jeeps to boots.
According to my Air Force mechanic in Vietnam uncle, they called it 100 mph tape, because that was roughly the speed it would peel off the fuselage of a plane.
That article doesn’t cover it, but the reason its called duck tape, is because its predecessor was made from duck cloth (a think fabric) with “duck” being a loanword from Dutch “doek”. Modern duck tape was just an improved, standardized version of this fabric tape. Later on, “duck tape” was warped to “duct tape” for its common use on ducts.
FYI, it’s duct tape. For taping ducts.
FYI… that’s a modern contrivance.
According to my Air Force mechanic in Vietnam uncle, they called it 100 mph tape, because that was roughly the speed it would peel off the fuselage of a plane.
I’ve always known it as “EB green”
This smells like duck propaganda.
Quack quack!
(Though, “cotton duck” was the material originally used as the cloth backing. It was another term for “canvas”,)
That article doesn’t cover it, but the reason its called duck tape, is because its predecessor was made from duck cloth (a think fabric) with “duck” being a loanword from Dutch “doek”. Modern duck tape was just an improved, standardized version of this fabric tape. Later on, “duck tape” was warped to “duct tape” for its common use on ducts.