Fool's errand
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This article gives a definition and examples for the term "Fool's Errand". There is also a videogame bearing that name.
A fool's errand is an activity or task that serves no practical purpose. While the term is often used to refer to the practice of a practical joke requesting a person to perform tasks that would expose them to humiliation, frustration or as part of an initiation rite or sorts, a fool's errand can also refer to having to do something that turned out to be totally unnecessary without any sinister purpose.
Examples of initiation rites which would be considered fool's errands are:
- Being sent for a "left-handed screwdriver" or left-handed monkeywrench
- Being sent for a can of striped, polka-dot, or in Scotland, tartan paint
- Being sent for a long stand or "long weight" ('long wait' - get it?)
- Being sent for a tube of elbow grease.
- Being sent for a "left-handed smoke-shifter" (Used in the Boy Scouts of America)
- Being sent for some "shoreline" (Also used in the Boy Scouts of America)
- Being sent for a bucket of gas to help start a fire- the bucket has to be held upside down to prevent that "gas" (actually just plain air) from escaping.
- Being sent for headlamp fluid, or a plinth ladder.
- Being sent for the folder with missing documents.
The traditional example in Germany is the Siemens Lufthaken (Siemens air hook). Unfortunately, Siemens has failed so far to actually supply this useful type of hook that can be affixed to thin air.
In the Czech Republic, children and foolish or naive people in general are sometimes sent to the dispensary for a kind of medicament called "semtele". The joke is that after the person arrives at the dispensary and asks for the goods, they eventually end up saying to the shop assistant "Semtele.", which itself is a nonsense word, but sounds exactly the same like the sentence "Jsem tele." ("I am a calf.") The most funny part comes if the person does not realize the true meaning of the word even after he had said it and got laughed at by the shop assistant, and he returns home, totally puzzled.
A familiar, but a tad more sophisticated way is to send someone in the pharmacy for a dose of "canis merga" (Dog poo.)
A common example of a fool's errand that is not a practical joke would be an example of a host going to pick up someone coming to visit them who is at a transport terminal such as a train station, bus terminal or airport, only to discover the person who was supposed to be picked up did not know they were coming and took transportation directly themselves.
"Fool's errand" is also used for a futile task (or one that is useless for the purposes of the problem at hand).