Professor Wagstaff: That's a wise quack.
The portrayal of ducks varies across different works of fiction. Sometimes, they are funny, lighthearted chaps. Other times, they are selfish and temperamental bastards. They might also just be plain clumsy and dim. Whatever the case may be, they are definitely noisy.
When a character is at a pond, they may get annoyed by all the quacking from the ducks (especially if a duck is making noise while begging for food). They may also have No Indoor Voice. Alternatively, an anthropomorphic duck may be depicted as being a chatterbox, occasionally being a Speech-Impaired Animal and still quacking. The anthropomorphic ducks often speak in an Animal Species Accent style called the Donald Duck talk
(inspired by Donald Duck and Daffy Duck) where the inner cheek is used to produce sound rather than the larynx, which can make them talk rather loud and unintelligibly.
This is Truth in Television. Real ducks can be pretty aggressive like geese and swans, and can be especially loud as well. Though not as physical - unlike geese or swans, ducks are almost universally friendly towards humans, though if you watch a flock of mallards for any amount of time, you'll usually notice anywhere up to half of them fighting over nothing in particular - they make up for it in volume. Alternatively, the noises they make can be seen as funny. Notably, it's the female ducks (especially in the case of the Mallard and its close relatives, such as the American and Pacific black ducks) that make the iconic "QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK!" sound, but that's not to say that the males are any less noisy, though their quacks are considerably deeper and not nearly as effective at being carried over long distances.
Sub-Trope of Noisy Nature. Can overlap with Foul Waterfowl and/or Quacking Up, depending on the stereotypical trait of the duck. If it's penguins that quack loudly, that's Penguins Are Ducks.
Examples:
- The insurance company AFLAC's mascot duck, voiced for many years by Gilbert Gottfried and later by Daniel McKeague, was often seen quacking the company's name in frustration in hopes of attracting potential policyholders. The duck is ALWAYS making that noise, even when on a roller-coaster.
- Disney Ducks Comic Universe: This comic strip◊ depicts Donald Duck's nephews making various noises while he is trying to read, eventually leading him to read outside in the cold.
- Zigzagged in MythBusters when they try are trying to test the duck quacking echo myth, only for the ducks to refuse to quack, with Jamie even saying, "Quack, damn you!" They finally get them to quack when they bring the ducks back together and they did so loudly since ducks apparently won't quack without anyone to talk to.
- In Rosie & Jim, the painted wooden duck on the Ragdoll boat quacks loudly (clearly voiced by a human) Once per Episode to tell Rosie and Jim when it is safe to move, and again to tell them to return to the boat.
- Daffy Duck of the Looney Tunes franchise could be considered the Trope Codifier along with Donald Duck. He is a hyperactive screwball as well as a selfish jerk, and he is also very loud (especially with his speech impediment).This clip is a good example of how he behaves in the library.
- Donald Duck could be considered the Trope Codifier along with Daffy. He is similar to Daffy Duck as well, being an angry noisy duck quacking incessantly when he loses his temper (which happens very often).
- The titular Duckman frequently rants at the top of his lungs. Conversely, the other ducks featured in the show are more mild in the noise department.
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Duck!", a ghost duck torments people by making fart noises, making others (who can't see the duck) think they farted. It gets so bad people start getting put in jail for it.
- The Simpsons: In "Jaws Wired Shut", the Itchy and Scratchy short, "To Kill a Talking Bird", is about turning off phones during movies and features a duck talking (read: quacking) nonstop on his phone.
- South Park: The episode "Jakovasaurus" is about a prehistoric creature resembling humanoid ducks being brought back from extinction. The creatures are so loud and obnoxious that the townspeople want them gone.
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky Duck is a Cloudcuckoolander who is quite dramatic and loud with his Speech Impediment, just like his mentor.
- Little Quacker from Tom and Jerry has a voice that can best be described as an exaggerated Donald Duck, making it rather hard to tell what he's saying most of the time.
- WordWorld: Duck is a wisecracking Keet who has No Indoor Voice and quacks in the middle of sentences.
- As with many other useful traits, you can bet humans found a way to selectively breed ducks to be louder than their wild counterparts; introducing the Call duck. While they're mostly kept as pets nowadays, they were originally bred to help duck hunters attract more quarry. By letting the call duck loose (though still on a leash) into a body of water, the call's loud quacking would draw wild mallards and similar ducks within range of the guns. Even though their use has largely been replaced with artificial duck calls, the call duck is no less quiet than it used to be; here's one quacking up a storm for reference.
