Snipe hunt

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Common snipe

A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke that involves experienced people making fun of credulous newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task.[1] The snipe hunt may be assigned to a target as part of a process of hazing.[2]

Contents

Etymology [edit]

The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe 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.[1] Real snipe (a family of shorebirds) are difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one.[3]

Examples [edit]

  • In the pizza-making business, newcomers are told to look in the fridge for the dough repair kit.[4]
  • 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.[5]
  • Other common restaurant practical jokes of the like are sending the new employee to another restaurant to borrow the "bacon stretcher", or a can of steam.[6][7]
  • In construction, a "board stretcher", "eye measures", "hammer grease", "glass hammer", or "striped paint" are the analogous pranks.[8]
  • In the U.S.Navy, sending a new sailor after a "BT Punch", "relative bearing grease", or "red lamp oil for the port running light" are similar pranks.[9]
  • In Boy Scouts, sending a new camper after a "Left Handed Smoke Shifter" is a similar practice. [10]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Palmatier, Robert Allen. Speaking of Animals: A Dictionary of Animal Metaphors. Greenwood Publishing. p. 375. ISBN 0313294909. 
  2. ^ Paris, Leslie (2008). Children's Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp. NYU Press. p. 104. ISBN 0814767508. 
  3. ^ Etymonline.com - snipe
  4. ^ Aman, Reinhold (1996). Maledicta, Volume 12. Maledicta Press. p. 11. 
  5. ^ Humphries, Vaughan (2008). Grumpy Young Man: The Incoherent Mutterings of a Humanitarian Misanthrope. AuthorHouse. p. 393. ISBN 1467899437. 
  6. ^ Josefowitz, Natasha (1988). Fitting in: how to get a good start in your new job (illustrated ed.). Addison-Wesley. p. 32. ISBN 0201116537. 
  7. ^ Cameron, Kim S. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship (illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 482. ISBN 0199734615. 
  8. ^ Paap, Kris (2006). Working Construction: Why White Working-Class Men Put Themselves--And the Labor Movement--In Harm's Way (illustrated ed.). Cornell University Press. p. 69. ISBN 0801472865. 
  9. ^ Cutler, Deborah (2005). Dictionary of Naval Terms (illustrated ed.). Naval Institute Press. p. 182. ISBN 1-59114-150-8. 
  10. ^ Rich, Alvin (1984). The History of the BSA. Aramco Press. p. 87. 

Further reading [edit]

External links [edit]

Look up snipe hunt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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