h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Could it be 'duck-billed' because the name is descriptive of the animal (duck-billed webbed-foot)?

So why don't we say 'platypus-billed duck'?

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Isn't it clear from my reply that 'platypus' means webbed-foot?

Ducks are billed and have webbed feet, don't they?

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'Platypus-billed duck' means 'webbed-foot-billed duck', i.e. the duck has a bill resembling a webbed foot, which is riduculous, don't you think?

(Is that another example of baroque grammar?)

Is it really more rediculous than saying the webbed foot resembles a duck's bill?

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I don't know! Is it?

Are you sure that 'duck bill' and 'platypus' taken together don't amount simply to a redundancy?

Or perhaps, do you suppose, it may have had something to do with an effort to differentiate from the now extinct Scottish 'haggis', another duck-billed fur bearing varmint?

Are the people of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on the whole in favour of antidisestablishmentarianism?

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ITIWBS, is it not clear from my earlier response that the name means an animal with a duck-like bill and webbed feet? Where is the redundancy in that?

Your duckbilled platypus has just been made redundant - how will it find another job?

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Would a duckbilled platypluss be protected under the DDA because of its unusual sahpe and size?

Or would it perhaps be protected on account of its now unique status?

If it belongs to a Trade Union, will the wombats be out on strike in sympathy?

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Are wombats known for their solidarity?

Haven't you ever had a demarcation argument with a wombat?

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This isn't about me, or the wombats, what about the duckbilled platypusses?

Or is that 'platypi'?

I thought only one platypus has been made unemployed?

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Is a thought a question?