Discussion Main / SnipeHunt

I took out the following entry:

"There are two Spanish idioms for this: ve a ver si ya puso la marrana (go see if the pig laid an egg) and the ruder vete a freír espárragos (go fry asparaguses). "Go fry asparagus" actually means something equivalent to "Go fly a kite!" (i.e., "Get lost!")."

Those two are just two mean, crystal-clear idioms to tell somebody to get lost, without the innocent prank element involved in a snipe hunt. The actual equivalent would be 'to hunt gamusinos' which is traditionally suggested to debutant hunters, although I'm aware that the idiom is not widespread in Latin America as it is in the Iberian Peninsula.

Now for the record, Spanish is a notorious mysanthropic language with a high level of jerkism so it's not like it lacks in manners to tell someone go fly a kite. Aside of the two quoted above, there is also vete a hacer puñetas (go make shirt cuffs) and even vete a freír puñetas. And that's nothing compared to the one that sends you literally to take it up the ass.

This is probably not an example — apparently the searched-for item would have been useful and could be found.

• In the pilot of Lost, Boone is eager to help Jack tend to wounded immediately after the crash. Jack sends him off to find a pen, to get him out of the way.
  • That's not really a snipe hunt, though. The pen would have been very useful for a tracheotomy, had Boone not taken so long to perform the task that Jack had to find another way.