Newspaper duck

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As canard (more rarely newspaper report shortly and duck ) is commonly known as a hoax in newspapers designated. "Newspaper duck" is used to describe both deliberate forgeries (" Tatar reports ") and errors .

Origin of the term

The origin of the term is not clear. Recently, the view seems to have gained acceptance that the newspaper duck came from French into German usage in the 19th century , based on the expression 'donner des canards' ('ducks give', 'lie') or 'vendre des canards' à moitié '(' sell the ducks halfway ',' don't tell the whole truth '). According to Roger Alexandre , the expression can already be found in this meaning in the Comédie de Proverbes collection from Montluc , published in 1616 . Where the duck's connection to falsehood comes from is unclear. It is believed that the duck was considered an unreliable breeder.

There is a caricature by Andreas Geiger in the Preußischer Kulturbesitz picture archive , which was created around 1840 and is entitled The Journalistic Egg Dance . It shows a scribe with his utensils and a shoulder bag from which two ducks look out, labeled as "Journal Ducks".

The French loan word canard also stands for “newspaper duck ” in English . In French, even though it is a colloquial expression for, newspaper, so the title of this traditional French satire leaf Le Canard enchaîné as "The Chained newspaper" is not to be understood in the sense of "hoax".

In the weekly Die Gegenwart , founded in 1872 and published by Paul Lindau (1839–1919), the meaning of the word “newspaper duck” is used in an article about the “Parisian Argot” (according to a note in the tourist newspaper , Vienna , on August 26, 1876) "Explained with" false newspaper news "and reproduced the following anecdote from an industrial lexicon published in Paris in 1776 :" The 'Landwirthschaftliche Ztg.' publishes a peculiar method of catching wild ducks. A strong and long acorn is boiled in a decoction of senna leaves and jalape . The prepared acorn is tied to a thin but strong thread in the middle and thrown into the water. You keep the end of the thread in your hand and hide. The duck swims up and swallows the acorn; but this has a strong purgative effect in its preparation and immediately reappears; then another duck comes and swallows it again, a third, a fourth, and immediately. They all line up on the same thread. It is reported on this occasion that a Huisier near Guê-de-Chaussée had 20 ducks lined up in this way. The ducks then flew up and took the Huisier with them; the rope broke and the unfortunate hunter broke his leg. "The note closes with the statement:" This great-grandmother of all Münchhauseniaden and newspaper ducks then became the prototype of the Parisian 'canard', the German 'duck'. "

Other theories of origin

The proverbial newspaper duck as a carnival costume

NT

It is very often said that it is phonetically derived from the abbreviation 'N. T. ' (or 'nt'; English : not testified or simply from not true ), which in some English-language newspapers marks the unclear truth content behind not verified reports. The name comes from the Latin non testatum ('not tested').

After the Second World War, many German newspapers got their information from the American and British armed forces. However, this information could often not be verified. Therefore they were given the addition 'NT'. Since there were also false reports, 'NT' developed in colloquial language into a duck and thus a newspaper duck.

There is some evidence that this explanation is a duck itself.

Blue ducks

A theory by the Brothers Grimm traces the expression back to Martin Luther , whom they quote with the words: “So it finally comes to the place where the evangelii and its interpretation are preached by blaw ducks.” The “blue ducks” stand as Symbol for heresy .

Peeping

Georg Büchmann derives in his Winged Words as follows: Luther used the word Lugenda in a sermon for a legend about Francis of Assisi, which in his opinion is unreliable . Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen later took up this word ('Lugende' in Das wunderbarliche Vogel-Nest , 1672). In Christian Reuter ( Schelmuffskys curiöse and very dangerous journey description on water and land, E. S. , 1696) states that lie to duck , over time to duck shortened.

See also

Related topics

  • Fictitious encyclopedia article , invented articles in encyclopedias
  • Pit dog , a duck that can be recognized when reading carefully, but is not noticeable when skimming over it superficially and with the help of which journalists can be convicted of negligence
  • Hoax , in German mostly meaningless : a false report that is distributed via electronic media (also: an alleged malicious program such as a computer virus that is not at all); in English pretty much what is called “duck” in German
  • Urban Legend , a hoax that is passed on (i.e. a modern form of rumor or village gossip that may end up being the opposite of what actually happened)
  • Fake news , manipulatively distributed, simulated news

Prime examples

literature

  • Hans Hollstein: Newspaper ducks. Little story of the hoax. Cheerful and serious varieties from April Fool's Day to disinformation . Bertelsen, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-927763-02-0 .
  • Horst Friedrich Mayer (ed.): The duck makers. When the media fall into the trap . Deuticke, Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-216-30376-4 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Newspaper duck  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roger Alexandre: La Musée de la Conversation. 3. Edition. Paris 1897, p. 67.
  2. ↑ German history in documents and pictures : From Vormärz to Prussian supremacy (1815–1866)> Pictures - State and Government: Confederation or Nation State? > "The journalistic egg dance" (around 1840)
  3. ↑ For a similar version, see also: Zeitungsente. In: Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander (Hrsg.): German Sprichwort Lexikon. Volume 5, Leipzig 1880, Col. 562-563, 1821.
  4. ↑ Christoph Drösser (right ? ): The nt duck. In: Die Zeit No. 52/2002