"We could ask Jim.."
Well- since you ask.....!!
My grandparents lived in Stoke on Trent and when I was a child one of the bastard pottery firms took to dumping surplus glazing paint in the canal, which caused the many swans to try and scratch their back, the result being that they swam in circles.
Never heard the saying used about lame kids - we weren't cruel like that in Liverpool; we just beat them up and threw away their crutches.
Ducks quacks do echo though.
Jim Carroll