Fascinatingly this folk etymology is incorrect. According to Wikipedia[0], the “duck” refers to cotton duck[1], a strong fabric that can be made waterproof, from which the original duck tape was made.
“Duct tape” (with a T) is in fact the retronym and was coined when duck tape started to be used for ducting.
All of this doesn’t explain how Duck-brand tape managed to get a trademark on an existing generic term.
“Duct tape” (with a T) is in fact the retronym and was coined when duck tape started to be used for ducting.
All of this doesn’t explain how Duck-brand tape managed to get a trademark on an existing generic term.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape#History
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_duck