Meaning:
To behave recklessly; to idly squander one's wealth.
Background:
Ducks and drakes is the old English name for the pastime of skimming flat
stones on the surface of water to make them bounce as many times as possible.
There are various names for the game, for example, stone skipping in the USA
and stone skimming in the UK. The world record, as endorsed by the Guinness
Book of Records, stands at 40.
The adoption of 'play ducks and drakes' meaning to throw away money seems to
have come directly from the throwing of stones in the waterside game.
The meaning now seems to have wandered closer toward the 'unreliable and
reckless' and away from the original 'idly squandering'. This may be a simple
migration of meaning over time, or it may be due to a confusion between
'playing ducks and drakes' and 'playing fast and loose'.
- www.phrases.org.uk
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One sultry late afternoon, as a few of us were playing ducks and drakes at the
north end of the village pond, about a dozen kids showed up at the south side
and hurled a lump of something into the water started pelting it with pebbles
and clods.
We couldn't see very well as it was 60 yards away in the beginning but it turned
out to be a medium-sized snake. Head above water, it wiggled to cross with the
same grace as it moved on land. No one had seen a snake swim before and for a
short while we were all mesmerized.
Soon, the animal was yards away from landing. We saw its shiny brown head, beady
piercing eyes, and scaled back. In panic, we did the same as the other gang and
drove it back with projectiles. Before it reached the south shore, another
volley of pebbles hustled it back up. The creature was thus seesawed between us
for about five or six rounds until it slowed down and halted in the middle. We
didn't know if it was drowned in fatigue or from injury or it was playing dead.
Its head dipped and its lifeless body floated in the wavelets.
I remembered wondering why, heading toward us, it never turned port side to the
west. It could've landed in 20 yards and slithered away.
But snakes were wily and death only added to their treachery and power in our
minds. Some already started worrying about revenge from members of the serpent's
tribe. "They'll come to your bed at night," they said.
We came back the next day and it was gone. Its spirit remained, we all agreed,
and for the rest of that summer, none of us played in that pond.
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