duck soup
colloquial noun phrase

- something that is easy to do

- an easily accomplished task or assignment

Merriam-Webster / Collins DIctionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The “duck soup” expression gained currency as the title of a hilarious popular movie by the Marx Brothers (1933). The original allusion from the early 1900s has been lost.

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WHEN COMEDY MEETS CRISIS

The film ‘Duck Soup’ did not perform as well at the box office as some previous Marx Brothers films. This was followed by contract disputes between the Marx Brothers and Paramount Pictures, which soured their relationship as Duck Soup went into production. After fulfilling their 5-picture contract with Paramount, the Marxes and the studio mutually agreed to part ways.

Several commentators have suggested that the film’s lukewarm response was due to the Great Depression — not because people weren't going to the movies (they were), but because they didn't want to see a cynical, ridiculous war comedy during such trying times. For as silly and nonsensical as Duck Soup is, it's also merciless in its satire of politicians and warmongers. The film opened to general U.S. release 10 months after Hitler was appointed chancellor, nine months after the Reichstag Fire, and four months after Hitler proclaimed the Nazis 'the only political party in Germany'). Not to mention that the generation-scarring 'war to end all wars' had ended only fifteen years earlier."

The list of 1933's most popular movies lends credence to the theory that audiences weren't in the mood for such jarring, chaotic satire. Instead they favoured light musicals (42nd Street, escapist fantasy (King Kong), saucy Mae West comedies (I'm No Angel), historical dramas (Queen Christina) and serene literary adaptations (Little Women).

Although initial critics of Duck Soup felt it did not quite measure up to earlier Marx Brothers movies, over time, opinions have changed and Duck Soup is now widely regarded by critics and fans as a comedic masterpiece and the Marx Brothers' best film.

In 1990, the Library of Congress recognized Duck Soup as culturally and historically significant by inducting it into the National Film Registry.

Adapted from Wikipedia

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SYNONYMS

a breeze, a cakewalk, a cinch, a piece of cake, a pushover, a snap, a walk in the park, as easy as 1 2 3 (as abc, as as falling off a log, as pie, as shooting fish in a barrel), child's play, DUCK SOUP, easy-peasy, easy peasy lemon squeezy, easy street, elementary, kid’s stuff, laughably easy, no problem (sweat), not rocket science, nothing to it, plain/smooth sailing, ridiculously easy

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Tying my shoes is DUCK SOUP now, but it was hard when I was a kid.”

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