Origin: Late 19th century, American English ‒ This expression does not come from the animals known as ducks, but from a kind of a bowling pin. It originates from a variety of bowling popular in the eastern U.S. known as “duckpins.” The most common form of bowling today is “ten pins.” The game actually dates back to ancient Egypt. It’s been played in England since the Middle Ages. In the eastern US, towards the end of the 19th century bowling was so popular that establishments too small for a full-size bowling alley featured two varieties using smaller pins. One was candlestick pins which are tall and narrow and the other was duckpins where are small and squat. Both use smaller balls and shorter alleys. Before automatic pin-setting equipment which is standard today, bowling alleys had “pin boys” whose job it was to set the pins in an upright position after they’d been knocked down, so that they could be knocked down again. Duckpins were popular enough to give birth to the expression have your duckpins well organized and in a row, hence “have your ducks in a row.”
Usage: Informal, spoken, general American English
Idiomatic Meaning: Getting ready to complete a job or project by being well organized; having all your affairs in order
Literal Meaning: Baby ducks tend to follow their mother in a line one behind the other and this is one possible meaning. But “ducks” is also short for “duckpins”, used in a bowling game. When they are all lined up and ready to be knocked down, it’s possible to have one’s “ducks are in a row.”
Why is this funny? In the photo, we see the short squat duckpins all neatly lined up, ready for a bowler to roll the ball and try to knock them all down. Someone, most likely the pin boy/girl has his ducks in a row with his ducks in a row.
Sample sentence: Running a restaurant is a tough job. You’ve got to “have all your ducks in a row” in order to be successful.
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