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.
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. The prank's recurrence and similarity in different cultures reflect an exploitation of a universal psychological adaptation for communication under information asymmetry, used by experts to assert a dominance hierarchy.
Gravitas
- 2019-03-28T00:00:00.000000Z
Cortisol
- 2023-05-26T00:00:00.000000Z
Padre Santo
- 2023-05-19T00:00:00.000000Z
Similar Artists