I was interested in the phrase “duck and dive,” which is put in parentheses, in the following comment of a video ran by the Guardian with a caption, “Senator Marco Rubio's in-speech water break” – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/feb/16/marco-rubios-water-break-video) :
“In a video that has turned viral, the Republican politician displays
a 'duck and dive' lunge for his bottle while barely averting his
eyes from the lens”
Oxford English Dictionary defines “duck and dive” as "British use: one’s ingenuity to deal with or evade a situation."
But Google Ngram shows a constant currency of this phrase since cir 1840 and growing increase of use around after 1995.
Is this phrase still predominantly used in Britain, less in the U.S.?
P.S.
I think the expression “Duck and dive" posture is very similar to Japanese expression, “屁っぴり腰-heppirigosi" meaning 'move / behave nervously / apprehensively with one's buttocks stuck out,' thus indecisiveness.
If somebody is familiar with Japanese language, please advise me if my interpretation is correct or not.
Best Answer
Searching for the phrase "duck and dive" in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) turns up zero references.
For the period (1990-2012) that COCA covers, "duck and dive" would appear to not be used in American English at all.