Hi this is to Nick P and this is Word Origins 71. The word origin today is a
wild goose chase. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone goes on a
wild goose chase, he or she goes off on a foolish or hopeless search for something,
especially something that cannot be attained. Meaning you could never, maybe
could never be attained because maybe it's not there. Or something that is not
worth chasing in that sense. We say that somebody goes on a wild goose chase or
has been sent on a wild goose chase or is on a wild goose chase. You could use
any of those verb phrases with it. All right. Let's continue, The origin actually comes
from an old horse-racing game. That goes all the way back to medieval times. The
race started out as a regular race. Whoever won the first race became the
leader and could ... and could ride wildly. And often the other, the other
riders they actually had to follow him. So , so and when he and when he did this
he was known for changing directions. So he would just change directions to his
whims. So wherever he felt like it so he would purposely ride this way. Then
suddenly turn right. suddenly turn left. Go in old crazy directions and this was
a game that they had. So the other horse riders had to follow him. So this is why
this is why it ends up being called a wild goose chase.
So let's continue here. It was believed to be a wild goose, it was believed to be
called a wild goose chase because geese often run in an unusual and
unpredictable pattern. Often changing directions which make them difficult to
catch. So if you if anybody ever tried to chase a goose you know, he will often run
and then suddenly turn this way suddenly turn that way. Maybe zigzag or who knows ?
You just don't know which way he's going to turn I don't know maybe they've
instinctively learned that's a good way to you know escape predators. People that
are chasing them. Okay. Let's continue. We actually have three
examples here. Here's the first one. That criminal purposely left fake evidence at
the crime scene to send the police on a wild goose chase. So maybe he left
evidence that would lead ... that would be obvious evidence that would lead the
police in the wrong direction looking for the wrong thing. So this way it gets
off his track and he has more time to escape. So we've seen this in some movies.
Maybe the criminal is smart enough to leave fake evidence to send the police
on a wild goose chase. Okay. Or number two here. I've heard
some political commentators speculate that the reason Trump doesn't release
his tax returns is to send his enemies on a wild goose chase. Yeah. Their
thinking behind this idea is you know, he was a real estate mogul for many, many
years and he had all the best accountants and you know, he knew that he
could be you know, audited at any time. So he made sure that he dotted every " I"
and and everything. So there may not really be anything there. So he could
release them. But why does he have to release them. If he releases them... if he
doesn't release them his enemy spend all this time and all this energy trying
to get something that even if they do get it one day
maybe there's nothing there. They may not find anything. No illegal activity or
anything. So it's kind of like sending them on a wild goose chase. Making them
they think there must be.... if he doesn't release them maybe there's something
there. But maybe there's really nothing there. If there's nothing there, he's
making them waste all their time and all their energy trying to get something
that you know, it's maybe not worth chasing. Okay and number three here. In
the old movie, "Cliffhanger". Yes. This movie is about more than 20 years old now.
maybe even 25 years old with Sylvester Stallone. His character tied a tracking
device to a rabbit in order to send the ruthless international
thieves on a wild goose chase. Yeah. In the movie supposedly they you know, they
robbed some plane where they had the money was shifted over and a lot of the
the bags with all the money or the bonds in them... I think they were actually
bonds, fell down in the mountains And they had to find them but they knew that
they all had tracking devices. So they could find them.
However this character who he plays like a mountain man or a mountain climber at
that time. He was able to find it first and he knew that there's a tracking device. He
opened it and he got the tracking device put it on an animal, so this way they
think they're looking for the bag and they're actually just following a little
rabbit. That's running around all over the place. So when he did that. He sent
them on a wild goose chase. Anyway I hope you got it. I hope it's
clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.