Fool's errand

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Hammer and Nails (1977) by Hans Godo Frabel. A "glass hammer" is a highly impractical object which an apprentice might be sent to fetch as part of a fool's errand Hammer nails smithonian.jpg
Hammer and Nails (1977) by Hans Godo Frabel. A "glass hammer" is a highly impractical object which an apprentice might be sent to fetch as part of a fool's errand

A fool's errand prank is a type of practical joke where a newcomer to a group, typically in a workplace context, is given an impossible or nonsensical task by older or more experienced members of the group. More generally, a fool's errand is a task almost certain to fail. [1]

Contents

Many such errands require the victim to travel some distance and request an impossible object by name; the prank will be widely known within the peer group as an in-joke, and the person they ask for the object will play along, often by sending the victim on to make the same request elsewhere.

The errand is an example of a hazing ritual, through which a newcomer gains acceptance into a group.

Examples

An example: "blinker fluid" does not exist. Blinker fluid advertisement.jpg
An example: "blinker fluid" does not exist.

See also

Related Research Articles

A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool's errand, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch an elusive, nonexistent animal called a snipe. Although snipe are an actual family of birds, a snipe hunt is a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dihydrogen monoxide parody</span> Parody where water is presented by an uncommon name

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Sidd Finch is a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious April Fools' Day hoax article "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated. According to Plimpton, Finch was raised in an English orphanage, learned yoga in Tibet, and could throw a fastball as fast as 168 miles per hour (270 km/h).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joy buzzer</span> Practical joke device

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dahu</span> Mythical creature

The dahu is a legendary creature that resembles a mountain goat and is well known in France and francophone regions of Switzerland and Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a small, horned goat-antelope once plentiful in European mountainous regions, and also resembles the ibex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krapfen (doughnut)</span> German jam doughnut

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigeon drop</span> Confidence trick

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The Masked Avengers, or Les Justiciers Masqués, are a Canadian radio duo from Montreal, Quebec, made up of disc jockeys and comedians Sébastien Côté-Trudel and Marc-Antoine Audette, known for making prank calls to famous persons by pretending to be government officials or officers in charitable organizations. Working mostly in French, except for their international prank calls, they appear on the afternoon program Les Cerveaux de l'info on CKOI-FM in Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Practical joke</span> Mischievous trick played on someone

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In financial slang, a bagholder is a shareholder left holding shares of worthless stocks. The bagholder typically bought in near the peak, when people were hyping the asset and the price was high, and held it all the way through steep declines, losing a large amount of money in the process.

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April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbour has been relatively common in the world historically.

"Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" is the second season premiere of the American animated television series South Park. The 14th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 1, 1998. The episode follows the two title characters, a duo of Canadians who attempt to save their country from the dictator Saddam Hussein while performing repetitive toilet humour. Unbeknownst to them, the plan was partially set up by their rival, Scott, a critic who is often displeased by their random jokes of flatulence. The script was written by series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with writer Trisha Nixon.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Errand</span> Minor task

An errand is a task of no great consequence, typically concerning household or business affairs, which requires the person undertaking it to travel to a place where it can be accomplished. The activity of undertaking this task is called running an errand, while a series of such tasks undertaken in a single outing is called errand-running or running errands.

References

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