etymology - "Broken my duck"? Is this a common idiom/phrase?


I steal this phrase from a comment on Meta Stack Overflow:



yep, I think I've broken my duck or so to speak :) – Kev♦ 51 mins ago



The context is one of having been basically broken into a particular fold, or going through a rite of passage - Kev has symbolically become a true moderator because he has gotten a Meta thread about his actions.


But the phrase is... unusual, to be soft about it. You don't break open ducks, or really most animals at all you don't break. Is this a common idiom? If so, what in hejudas inspired such a phrasing?



Answer



This might help, it's a fairly common'ish phrase in the UK.


In summary it's a cricket related term. In cricket a "Duck" is where a player has been dismissed from play without scoring a point. "Breaking one's duck" is the occasion where a you break a run of ducks.



breaking your duck - boards.ie



Outside of cricket the term is often used to describe having done something for the first time.


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