Duke of Er

[deckardcanine]

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Put up your dukes,”
But its origin isn’t so quickly discerned.
The first Duke of Wellington’s prominent nose
Turned our fists into “dukebusters”? That’s what I learned

When I was a kid, but I later discovered
The tale lacks citations of any good sort.
Connecting the “duke” to the Marquess of Queensbury’s
Boxing instructions gets no more support.

Another idea is that kings summoned dukes
And their knights to do battle. That metaphor’s stretched.
The Romany “dook” means a hand read in palmistry?
How was that term in the English world fetched?

The likeliest story: When “forks” could mean fingers,
Some Cockneys would use “Duke of Yorks” as their slang.
Alas, we’ve no record to show it got shortened,
And some say Americans started it. Dang.