the.com/snipe
a bird so elusive its name became the verb for hunting things that don't exist.
means To snipe is to shoot at someone from a hidden, distant position, or by extension to attack with a sudden sharp remark; as a noun it's a long-billed wading bird of marshes and bogs.
from From the bird, whose name traces back through Middle English to Old Norse 'snípa' and related Germanic words. The snipe was famously hard to hunt — fast, erratic, and well-camouflaged in the marsh — so anyone skilled enough to shoot one was a 'sniper,' a term British soldiers in India carried into military use. The fool's errand of being sent to catch a 'snipe' also gave us the snipe hunt, a prank of chasing something that isn't really there.
- snipe hunt
- classic prank sending fools after an imaginary creature
- sniper origin
- named for shooters skilled enough to hit snipe
- drum solo
- males drum air through tail feathers while diving
- 360 vision
- eyes set far back see all directions at once
- zigzag escape
- erratic flight made it the toughest game bird
wilson snipe hunting — prank tradition at us military bases where recruits search for non-existent snipes with bags and flashlights
common snipe — gallinago gallinago, wading bird found across europe, asia, and north africa with distinctive zigzag flight pattern