quacks

[brera]

why are doctors called quacks

[Quizmonster]

Click here for the answer.

[abilicious]

Nothing to do with seeing your duckter, then ...

[:Ace:]

I thought it was from the time of the Plague and the doctors would wear big beak things and look like Ducks. Hence, Quacks.

[Azimov]

QM posted the link... I'm posting the text :)
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[Q] From Tom: �I would like to know the origin of the word quack, as in the fake doctor.�

[A] It�s an abbreviation of an old Dutch word that in the modern language is spelled kwakzalver. It comes from quack, an early modern Dutch word meaning a person who chatters or prattles (probably connected to the English word for the noise a duck makes), and salf, essentially the same word as our salve. So a quacksalver was somebody who boasted about the virtues of his remedies, so it later became attached to a person who claimed to have miraculous medications. The longer form was common in the sixteenth century, but it was abbreviated later. The similarity of the full-length word to quicksilver, or mercury, and the once common use of that element in medicine (especially to treat diseases such as syphilis), falsely suggests a link with the name. But there�s no connection.