As I was out on a rather too late walk last night, my attention was diverted from contemplation of the cloudy sky by the sound of ducks conversing urgently over something which was clearly of great import for them.
I carried on my way, as did the duck-conversation. I am not ashamed to admit that I eavesdropped on this petit duck tete-a-tete, so compelling did it sound. I grew eager to discover what was causing them such excitement; but while I did so, it struck me that the ducks used only one word: Mep! I listened intently.
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
It continued.
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
“Mep!”
Mep! was certainly the closest approximation to a word which my ever-vigilant ears could discern; I thought it odd that ducks should engage is such an obviously pressing exchange whilst employing only one word.
What could that word mean? My mind raced.
Fox!
Quiet!
Hide!
Car!
Or maybe they were responding to me? “Footsteps!”
I resolved, upon my return, to discover what they were talking so animatedly about.
Thus it was that I found myself half-an-hour later consulting my Duck-English/English-Duck Ducktionary/Dictionary. There was only one entry:
Mep interj./onomatopoeia in communication between ducks, an exclamation which translates directly as Quack!
So that’s what they’d been saying!
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