Ed Smylie, Who Saved the Apollo 13 Crew with Duct Tape, Dies at 95

Did "duct" tape become the standard nomenclature at some point? I learned many years ago that "duck" really is the correct term, because the tape was originally made of cotton duck cloth.

Lots of people assume that "duck" is actually the misunderstanding, and that it must be a slurring of "duct", but there's no history of using duck tape on ducts. It's the wrong tool for the job, and the wrong name for the material. I'm surprised to see that sources like the NYT and Wikipedia are using "duct tape" as the preferred term.

there is also a pretty popular brand “Duck Brand” duct tape likely adding to the “duck vs duct” confusion

> there's no history of using duck tape on ducts.

There is. Post-WWII the tape was marketed and sold by the Melvin A. Anderson Company for air ducting.

https://www.duckbrand.com/about

And the company that started selling the tape for ducts and calling it "duct tape" is the corporate predecessor of that same company.

> Lots of people assume that "duck" is actually the misunderstanding

Present! Thanks for ruining my adulthood ;-)

I stand corrected. That makes the current terminology make a whole lot more sense.