MDDM23: Female, as It Happens ...

[Dave Monroe]

   "'Wait, wait, this other Duck,-- it's male? 
female?  For that matter, which are you?'
   "'Moi?  Female, as it happens.  The other, being
yet sexually unmodified, is neither,-- or, if you
like, both.  Any Problem?'" (M&D, Ch. 37, p. 377)

Main Entry: duck 
Pronunciation: 'd&k
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural ducks
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English duk, doke, from Old English
duce
Date: before 12th century
1 or plural duck a : any of various swimming birds
(family Anatidae, the duck family) in which the neck
and legs are short, the body more or less depressed,
the bill often broad and flat, and the sexes almost
always different from each other in plumage b : the
flesh of any of these birds used as food
2 : a female duck -- compare DRAKE ...

Main Entry: drake 
Pronunciation: 'drAk
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English; akin to Old High German
antrahho drake
Date: 14th century
: a male duck

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

It IS Vaucanson's DUCK, not Vaucanson's DRAKE, so ...

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