Like a duck . . .

LIKE A DUCK ON THE WATER -- From a news story about Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson's first day on the job as mayor of the newly merged city and county government: " 'How's it going?' he asked, reaching for his lunch, from a café nearby. 'How wild and crazy it is?' 'Like a duck on water,' Deputy Mayor Joan Riehm replied. 'That means we're smooth on top but paddling like hell underneath,' Abramson explained." The Courier Journal, Louisville, Ky., Jan. 7, 2003.

I've been aware of a near-identical simile in the UK for a few years now, but over here, we always talk of a swan - apparently calm and serene, but paddling like crazy just beneath the surface. I don't have a print reference, but I'm sure that someone will come up with one.

Swan does sound better than duck.

My experience in the US has always associated the phrase with an affinity to something, as in "He took to it like a duck to water." Perhaps the prepositional variance accounts for the difference.

Those two are completely different phrases. "Like a duck to water" is traditional. "Like a duck on water" is new, I believe, and is meant to be darkly humorous.