Whiffenpoof

Last updated

A whiffenpoof was a tool for training Boy Scouts in tracking skills. The whiffenpoof itself was a small log, about the size of a stick of firewood, with nails driven into it on all sides, so that it bristled with nails. This was dragged through the forest on a short leash, by the older Scouts who were training the younger. It might thus create a track that the tenderfoot must learn to trace out. Or it might, alternately, be dragged across a trail in order to confuse the trackers. The fewer nails that were driven into it, the more difficult and subtle was the effect.

Contents

Thus it is that the word whiffenpoof can also refer to an imaginary or indefinite animal; e.g. "the great-horned whiffenpoof". It originates from actor Joseph Cawthorn's ad-lib in a 1908 performance of the operetta Little Nemo . He was told to stall for time while something was corrected backstage. In the scene, his character described imaginary prey he had hunted, so he created the "water-dwelling, food-gobbling" whiffenpoof on the spot. [1] Yale students in the audience appropriated it for the name of their singing society.

Imaginary or indefinite animal

In the Little Nemo in Slumberland strip for September 26, 1909, the hunters look for whiffenpoofs but find instead a "montemaniac" and a "peninsula". Little Nemo 1909-09-26.jpg
In the Little Nemo in Slumberland strip for September 26, 1909, the hunters look for whiffenpoofs but find instead a "montemaniac" and a "peninsula".

Particularly among hunters, "whiffenpoof" can be a tongue-in-cheek name for imaginary animal [2] like the jackalope, or a placeholder name for an animal (analogous to "thingamajig"):

Therefore I have scant patience with the type of argument in rebuttal—on either side—that says in effect: "You say the whiffenpoof is—or is not—protectively coloured. Now the other day I was out, and I saw—or did not see—a whiffenpoof, etc." [3]

the ringtailed whiffenpoof and the four-wheeled skeezicks are languishing in confinement... [4]

Still-hunting offers the purest forest experience. In a stand or blind, you can hear the cry of the whiffenpoof, the tap-tap-tap of the redheaded woodpecker, the scurry of the field mouse, and the sound of a hunting partner going grunt. [5]

"Whiffenpoof" has been used as a joking fictitious name for a member of the upper crust; a 1922 Philadelphia newspaper columnist writes of an opera performance attended by "Mrs. T. Whiffenpoof Oscarbilt, Mr. and Mrs. Dudbadubb Dodo and [their] three dashing daughters who have just finished a term at Mrs. Pettiduck's School for Incorrigibles at Woodfern-by-the-Sea." [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunting</span> Searching, pursuing, and killing wild animals

Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to exploit the animal's body for meat and useful animal products, for recreation/taxidermy, although it may also be done for non-exploitative reasons such as removing predators dangerous to humans or domestic animals, to eliminate pests and nuisance animals that damage crops/livestock/poultry or spread diseases, for trade/tourism, or for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox hunting</span> Traditional equestrian hunting activity

Fox hunting is a traditional activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds", follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.

Yum Kaax is a Yukatek Maya name for the god of the wild vegetation and guardian of its animals.

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">White-tailed deer</span> Species of hooved mammal

The white-tailed deer, also known commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia, where it predominately inhabits high mountain terrains of the Andes. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, all the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and some countries in Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drag hunting</span> Equestrian hunting activity

Drag hunting or draghunting is a form of equestrian sport, where mounted riders hunt the trail of an artificially laid scent with hounds.

Ole and Lena are central characters in jokes by Scandinavian Americans, particularly in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. These include the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota, where Scandinavian immigrant traditions are common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval hunting</span> Aristocratic hunting practice

Royal hunting, also royal art of hunting, was a hunting practice of the aristocracy throughout the known world in the Middle Ages, from Europe to Far East. While humans hunted wild animals since time immemorial, and all classes engaged in hunting as an important source of food and at times the principal source of nutrition, the necessity of hunting was transformed into a stylized pastime of the aristocracy. More than a pastime,l interaction, essential training for war, and a privilege and measurement of nobility. In Europe in the High Middle Ages the practice was widespread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red herring</span> Fallacious approach to mislead an audience

A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentionally, as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies, or may be used in argumentation inadvertently.

Hunting strategy or hunting method is any specific techniques or tactics that are used to target, pursue, and hunt an animal. The term mostly applies to humans catching and killing wild animals, but can also be used in ethology and nature documentaries to describe predation strategies adopted by carnivores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracking (hunting)</span>

Tracking in hunting and ecology is the science and art of observing animal tracks and other signs, with the goal of gaining understanding of the landscape and the animal being tracked. A further goal of tracking is the deeper understanding of the systems and patterns that make up the environment surrounding and incorporating the tracker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boone and Crockett Club</span> Non-profit organisation in the USA

The Boone and Crockett Club is an American nonprofit organization that advocates fair chase hunting in support of habitat conservation. The club is North America's oldest wildlife and habitat conservation organization, founded in the United States in 1887 by Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. The club was named in honor of hunter-heroes of the day, Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, whom the club's founders viewed as pioneering men who hunted extensively while opening the American frontier, but realized the consequences of overharvesting game. In addition to authoring a famous "fair chase" statement of hunter ethics, the club worked for the expansion and protection of Yellowstone National Park and the establishment of American conservation in general. The club and its members were also responsible for the elimination of commercial market hunting, creation of the National Park and National Forest Services, National Wildlife Refuge system, wildlife reserves, and funding for conservation, all under the umbrella of what is known today as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

<i>Big Buck Hunter</i> 2000 video game

Big Buck Hunter is a game hunting video game developed by Play Mechanix. Primarily developed for arcades, the goal of the game is to shoot moving bucks without shooting a doe or female animal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deer hunting</span> Practice/activity of hunting deer

Deer hunting is hunting deer for meat and sport, an activity which dates back tens of thousands of years. Venison, the name for deer meat, is a nutritious and natural food source of animal protein that can be obtained through deer hunting. There are many different types of deer around the world that are hunted for their meat. For sport, often hunters try to kill deer with the largest and most antlers to score them using inches. There are two different categories of antlers. They are typical and nontypical. They measure tine length, beam length, and beam mass by each tine. They will add all these measurements up to get a score. This score is the score without deductions. Deductions occur when the opposite tine is not the same length as it is opposite. That score is the deducted score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deer park (England)</span> Enclosed area containing deer

In medieval and Early Modern England, Wales and Ireland, a deer park was an enclosed area containing deer. It was bounded by a ditch and bank with a wooden park pale on top of the bank, or by a stone or brick wall. The ditch was on the inside increasing the effective height. Some parks had deer "leaps", where there was an external ramp and the inner ditch was constructed on a grander scale, thus allowing deer to enter the park but preventing them from leaving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hart (deer)</span> Medieval hunting term for a red deer stag more than five years old

A hart is a male red deer, synonymous with stag and used in contrast to the female hind; its use may now be considered mostly poetic or archaic. The word comes from Middle English hert, from Old English heorot; compare Frisian hart, Dutch hert, German Hirsch, and Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish hjort, all meaning "deer". Heorot is given as the name of Hrothgar's mead hall in the Old English epic Beowulf.

A limer, or lymer, was a kind of dog, a scenthound, used on a leash in medieval times to find large game before it was hunted down by the pack. It was sometimes known as a lyam hound/dog or lime-hound, from the Middle English word lyam, meaning 'leash'. The French cognate limier has sometimes been used for the dogs in English as well. The type is not to be confused with the bandog, which was also a dog controlled by a leash, typically a chain, but was a watchdog or guard dog.

<i>Cabelas Outdoor Adventures</i> (2009 video game) 2009 video game

Cabela's Outdoor Adventures is a hunting video game released only in North America on September 8, 2009 by Activision for home consoles, and on October 13, 2009 for Microsoft Windows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyulaj Hunting Hungary</span> Hungarian state-owned forestry and hunting company

Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Private Limited Company is one of Hungary's 22 state owned forestry and hunting companies. Its online marketing brand name is Gyulaj Hunting Hungary. Besides forest management one of its main business activities is big game management carried out in professional and traditional near- nature way. Its game management branch activities include receiving international hunting clients for purpose of hunting for local big game species. Its business premises are located in Tamási, South- West Hungary in Tolna County. Among the Hungarian state-owned forestries Gyulaj Plc is the leader by its highest rate of incomings from hunting section compared to the total annual incomings of the company. By this performance Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Plc is a key player of the Hungarian big games management and hunting. Its legal predecessors and different hunting grounds look back at a rich hunting history and performance: a heritage that has been kept alive until today. Gyulaj Forestry and Hunting Plc has been operating in the legal form of a private limited company since November 3, 2005. With its center in Tamási it presently does forest management on nearly 23,500 hectares state forestland and quality game management on nearly 30,000 hectares in South-West Hungary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fool's errand</span> Type of practical joke

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.

References

  1. Bordman, Gerald Martin (1987). The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN   9780195169867.
  2. Tryon, Henry Harrington. "The Whiffenpoof." Fearsome Critters. (Cornwall, NY: Idlewild Press, 1939)
  3. Steward Edward White (1915). The Rediscovered Country. Doubleday, Page., p. 336
  4. "Sees Jack O Lantern despite Prohibition," The Lexington Herald, January 28, 1920, p. 14; a story about a "flickering white light" reported by two tobacco workers
  5. Buck Peterson (2006). Buck Peterson's Complete Guide to Deer Hunting. Ten Speed Press. ISBN   1-58008-738-8.
  6. "The Once Over At the Opera;" The Philadelphia Inquirer,; November 20, 1922; p. 17