Snipe hunt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A snipe hunt, a form of wild-goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is a type of practical joke

Practical joke

A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...

that involves experienced people making fun of credulous

Credulity

Credulity is a state of willingness to believe in one or many people or things in the absence of reasonable proof or knowledge.Credulity is not simply belief in something that may be false. The subject of the belief may even be correct, but a credulous person will believe it without good...

newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe

Snipe

A snipe is any of about 25 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and crypsis plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the...

as well as a usually preposterous method of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises such as banging rocks together. Incidentally, the snipe

Snipe

(a family of shorebirds) is difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper

Sniper

A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....

" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one.

The snipe hunt may be assigned to a target as either part of a process of hazing

Hazing

Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....

, in which the object is to initiate the snipe hunter into the group, or as part of a process of ostracism intended to encourage (or force) a person, perceived to be an unwanted interloper, to withdraw from the group's presence.

Fool's errand

A fool's errand is a task that cannot be accomplished because of fate or because it is a joke. It comes mainly in two varieties: trying to find something that does not exist, or trying to accomplish an impossible task. Others who are aware of the prank will often redirect the victim to several different places.

The prank often involves the use of jargon

Jargon

Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...

, where the immediate meaning is not obvious. It can also depend on a new recruit's unfamiliarity with the business, such as being sent on a search for an ID10T form .

In carny

Carny

Carny or carnie is a slang term used in North America and, along with showie, in Australia for a carnival employee, as well as the language they employ...

, a type of fool's errand is known as the key to the midway.

Common items

In the U.S. Marines and the US Army, an inexperienced Marine/soldier may be asked by a superior to get an ID-10T (IDIOT) form, a BA-1100N (Balloon), an ST-1 (STONE), a Humvee key, chemlight batteries, exhaust sample, muzzle blast, the gun report, left handed grenades, or a box of grid squares. Other ones include telling young Marines/soldiers to walk up to a senior leader and tell them they need a PRC-E8 or PRC-E7. (Prick E-8, or E7 a military pay grade.) In the artillery branch, it is also common to tell a new Marine/ soldier to knock on the side of an armored vehicle and if it echoes mark it with chalk, i.e. "checking for weak spots". In the mechanical field, sending a Marine/soldier to the motor pool to retrieve a spark plug for a diesel engine, or in a communications unit the unsuspecting serviceman might be sent out to find a can of frequency grease.
In the US Air Force, some activities such as gathering "flight line" or a bucket of "prop wash" have similar purpose, sending someone out for a bottle of "K9P (canine pee, i.e., dog urine)".
In the US Navy, new sailors may be put on watch at the bow of the ship to look for the mail buoy or given a broom or mop with instructions to find and kill the sea-bat allegedly infesting some portion of the ship. It is also popular to send them to retrieve sound-powered phone
Sound-powered telephone
A sound-powered telephone is a communication device that allows users to talk to each other with the use of a handset, similar to a conventional telephone, but without the use of external power...

batteries, or to go to stores and ask for ten feet of freeboard
Freeboard (nautical)
In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...

. Before the days of solid-state (electronics), inexperienced young men were sequentially directed through a series of supply compartments to request a Fallopian tube
Fallopian tube
The Fallopian tubes, also known as oviducts, uterine tubes, and salpinges are two very fine tubes lined with ciliated epithelia, leading from the ovaries of female mammals into the uterus, via the utero-tubal junction...

for a malfunctioning radio, RADAR
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

or SONAR
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

. In the aviation community, it is common to have new sailors ask QA
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...

for the keys to the aircraft or the line shack for 1,000 feet of flight line. It is also common aboard ship to have a sailor ask for bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...

remover. The Operations Specialists in the Combat Information Center
Combat Information Center
The Operations Room is the tactical center of a warship or AWAC aircraft providing processed information for command and control of the near battle space or 'area of operations'...

have been known to call up the Surface Warfare Officers on the ship's bridge watch team asking them to urgently get a visual on the incoming B1RD (bird) or GU-11 (gull) contacts.
In navies across the world, on a young or new member's first trip across the equator they may be asked to keep watch for the Equator Buoy Line. This is more effective when the weather is undesirable.
In the US Coast Guard, new crew members aboard cutters may be asked to go to the Damage Control shop and ask the lead enlisted damage controlman for the keys to the sea chest. The sea chest refers to a large pipe where ocean water enters for use in the cooling systems and for the fire main. This question often results in the damage control officer, chief or lead petty officer accusing the victim of sabotage, as opening the sea chest underway would result in rapid flooding. Also common include request for new members to get a DC Punch from the one of the Damage Controlmen who in turn hit them, be requested to calibrate the radar by being wrapped in tin foil and made to walk around the focsle and stand in various poses, or to look for the mail buoy because the captain is expecting a important letter or package, who are subsequently reprimanded for missing the non-existent buoy during their watch.
Navy and Merchant Marine newbies are sometimes sent to all parts of a ship in search of a can of yellow paint. Experienced crew being familiar with the ruse keep sending the dupe to other ends of the vessel to ask different personnel for the elusive can of yellow paint. Invariably if the newbie is at the stern, the yellow paint will be described as being at the bow-end—and vice versa.
Sending anyone off to ask for a frammis is a fool's errand, since no such frammi exist.
In the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...

, new scouts are often sent to retrieve a left-handed smoke shifter, go on a snipe hunt, ask other camps for some elbow grease, find an inflatable dartboard, or borrow a "cup" of propane or some white lampblack.
Machinery parts that sound real, but if considering the actual machine, cannot exist: muffler
Muffler
A muffler is a device for reducing the amount of noise emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine. A US Patent for an Exhaust muffler for engines was granted to Milton and Marshall Reeves in 1897....

bearings, diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

spark plugs, piston return spring, canooter valve, headlight or blinker fluid, or a top/bottom radiator
Radiator (engine cooling)
Radiators are used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in piston-engined aircraft, railway locomotives, motorcycles, stationary generating plant or any similar use of such an engine....

hose for a Volkswagen Beetle
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

(which is air-cooled and therefore has no radiator).
Tools that do not exist, such as a metric adjustable wrench
Adjustable spanner
An adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is a spanner with a "jaw" of adjustable width, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head rather than just one faster, as with a conventional fixed spanner...

, a brass magnet, a sky hook, a key to the oarlocks, a key to the pitcher's box, 3-foot metre stick, angular striper, shelf-stretcher, board-stretcher, metal stretcher (in plumbing, a pipe-stretcher), brick bender, hole remover, or left-handed versions of usually achiral
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...

tools (wrench, hammer, or screwdriver), or tools made out of unlikely materials, such as glass hammers.
Another variation includes being sent to procure a "long weight" or "long stand", the idea being that the dupe will reach the shop (or equivalent source of the mythical object) and place the request. The target is then left waiting by the shop keeper (who is presumably familiar with the trick) and thus receives a long wait.
Fetching a quantity of something that can not be contained, for example, a bucket of vacuum
Vacuum
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...

or of propane
Propane
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...

, a bubble for a spirit level
Spirit level
A spirit level or bubble level is an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface ishorizontal or vertical . Different types of spirit levels may be used by carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and in some...

, steam, flight, a box of replacement RPMs, or shore line, striped or tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...

paint, prop wash, or sparks (especially sparks from a grinder).
Items that are patently ridiculous (such as striped/camouflage paint, dehydrated water, smoke bender, a box of nail holes, pre-dug post holes or a rubber flag for rainy days) or figurative (such as elbow grease
Elbow grease
Elbow grease is an idiom for working hard at manual labour, as in "You need to use some elbow grease." It is a humorous reflection of the fact that some tasks can only be achieved by hard effort and human energy, contrasting with the idea that there should be some special oil, tool or chemical...

).
Members of orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

s are sent to "find the tacet
Tacet
Tacet is Latin for "it is silent". It is a musical term to indicate that an instrument or voice does not sound. In vocal polyphony and in orchestral scores, it usually indicates a long period of time, typically an entire movement...

" when their part calls for it.
New nurses may be sent to pick up a "neck tourniquet
Tourniquet
An emergency tourniquet is a tightly tied band applied around a body part sometimes used in an attempt to stop severe traumatic bleeding. Tourniquets are also used during venipuncture and other medical procedures. Severe bleeding means the loss of more than 1,000 ml of blood. This flow of blood...

".
In sailing, an inexperienced crew member may be asked "to not forget to wind up the compass".
In restaurants and other facilities with cold storage for food, it is not uncommon for a new worker to be asked to fill garbage bags with hot air and place them in the freezer in order to "prevent freezer burn".
In offices or other workplaces where paperwork is required, the target of the prank may be sent out to purchase some 'verbal agreement forms'.
In grocery stores, it is common for new workers to be asked to replace lobster claw bands, retrieve toilet paper bleach, refill the water fountain, or shake containers of salad dressing so that they do not harden.
In retail stores, it is common to ask new or inexperienced employees to go find the Wall-stretcher or the Shoelace repair kit.
In the pizza-making business, newcomers are told to look in the fridge for the dough repair kit. Also, the batteries for the ovens are sometimes asked for.
In casinos, new roulette dealers might be instructed to go ask the pit boss (usually in another pit) for a 'wheel crank' in order to wind up the roulette wheel. Its perceived 'perpetual' motion is actually maintained by the dealer gently spinning the wheel before releasing the ball in the track.
In 5 class restaurants a new waitress may be asked by the chef to ask a customer if they "want some melted ice."
In television, a new production assistant or engineer may be sent to find the chroma key
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...

, which is sometimes said to fit into the genlock
Genlock
Genlock is a common technique where the video output of one source, or a specific reference signal from a signal generator, is used to synchronize other television picture sources together. The aim in video and digital audio applications is to ensure the coincidence of signals in time at a...

.
In Chem labs, an intern may be sent to fetch a sample of 'aqueous water'. (Aqueous meaning soluble in water, suggesting that this sample is somehow capable of dissolving into itself, which is impossible.)
In law firms, a new associate may be asked the status of the penske file.

Particularly skeptical novices can be caught out by a request for a large- or medium-sized small tool. Although sounding ridiculous, these do in fact exist: the small tool is a small trowel

Trowel

A trowel is one of several similar hand tools used for digging, smoothing, or otherwise moving around small amounts of viscous or particulate material.-Hand tools:...

-like implement used in building and brick-laying, and comes in several sizes.

Regional creatures

Many regions have an imaginary being used as a snipe hunt. In Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, tourists were taken on extended expeditions to search for chamois

Chamois

The chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...

eggs, or on all-night Wolpertinger

Wolpertinger

In Bavarian folklore, a wolpertinger is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavaria in Germany. It has a body comprised from various animal parts — generally wings, antlers, tails and fangs, all attached to the body of a small mammal...

stakeouts. In Scotland, tourists are told about the Wild Haggis

Wild Haggis

Wild haggis is a fictional creature said to be native to the Scottish Highlands. It is comically claimed to be the source of haggis, a traditional Scottish dish that is in fact made from the innards of sheep .According to some sources, the wild haggis's left and right legs are of different lengths...

hunts, while in the Western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

, they may be warned about the savage jackalope

Jackalope

The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail . The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antalope", an archaic spelling of "antelope". It is also known as Lepus...

. In Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, foreigners may be warned to remain alert for drop bear

Drop bear

A drop bear is a fictitious Australian marsupial. Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above...

s, bunyip

Bunyip

The bunyip, or kianpraty, is a large mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes....

s or hoop snake

Hoop snake

The hoop snake is a legendary creature of the United States and Australia. The hoop snake appears in the Pecos Bill stories; although it is his description of hoop snakes with which most people are most familiar, stories of the creature predate those fictional tales considerably. Several sightings...

s, mythical creatures that are a popular joke amongst the locals. In Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, natives warn tourists to watch out for rattlesnake

Rattlesnake

Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...

eggs. (Rattlesnakes don't lay eggs; they give birth to live offspring.)

In France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

and the north of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, particularly in mountains like the Alps

Alps

The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

or the Jura Mountains

Jura mountains

The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...

, tourists are sent to hunt the dahu

Dahu

The dahu is a legendary creature well known in France, Switzerland and the north of Italy.French pranksters often describe the dahu as a mountain goat-like animal with legs of differing lengths....

, an imaginary mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

whose left legs are shorter than its right legs, so that it can walk easily along a mountain slope. A practical way to hunt the beast is to call him from the back: it turns around and falls, because of its long legs on the top and his short legs on the bottom. In Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

and Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, new people at a campsite are sent at night to hunt gamusino, an imaginary small animal which is usually said to only appear at night.

In the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, a mythical mammal called a Sigbin

Sigbin

The Sigbin or Sigben is a creature in Philippine mythology said to come out at night to suck the blood of victims from their shadows. It is said to walk backwards with its head lowered between its hind legs, and to have the ability to become invisible to other creatures, especially humans...

or Amamayong has been used in a more criminal manner. The descriptions of the creatures vary, but generally, they are said to have the curious habit of walking backwards with its head twisted between its hindlegs to see and having the ability to turn invisible at will. They are considered members of the fairy/underworld folk, who are usually portrayed as malevolent. The popular notion that a sigbin would bring wealth and good luck to anyone who manages to catch one was used successfully by con men in extorting large amounts of money from gullible families. These self-styled 'sigbin hunters' often using pictures of albino rabbits or kangaroos to the uneducated as 'proof' of actually having seen one. Sigbins were also said to have blood which can cure any kind of ailment (a popular con man catchphrase being Even AIDS!) which also made families of people with a mysterious incurable ailment with no access to doctors more vulnerable to such attempts at fraud. Similar confidence trick

Confidence trick

A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...

s also involve other popular legends like Yamashita's gold

Yamashita's gold

Yamashita's gold, also referred to as the Yamashita treasure, is the name given to the alleged war loot stolen in Southeast Asia by Japanese forces during World War II and hidden in caves, tunnels and underground complexes in the Philippines. It is named for the Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita,...

.

In Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, a common trick is to send people to find tenmeacá (tenme acá, which means "keep me here"). This can be said to be a spice, a medicinal herb or a decorative flower, depending on the situation. Similarly, in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, a person is told to ask for a "tenteallá" (tente allá, translated to "keep you there"). The meaning of this word is also variable to fit the situation (an office supply, a beauty product, etc.).

Fool's errand

Common items

Regional creatures

Further reading