Timeline for Phrase to describe a moving goal that is forever just out of reach
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Dec 5, 2015 at 11:51 | comment | added | RyeɃreḁd | Chasing rainbows is chasing things you will never get, wild goose chase you often get what you are getting but in a round about way, and snipe hunt absolutely makes no sense at all. Going snipe hunting is taking kids out hunting for fake animals. It is really a travesty that this has 30 upvotes and shows that the people voting have as little English knowledge as the author. | |
| Dec 3, 2015 at 8:43 | comment | added | Jony Agarwal | @TessellatingHeckler I think yak shaving means something different. Have a look at the answer given by Lunivore : english.stackexchange.com/questions/43372/… | |
| Dec 2, 2015 at 20:40 | comment | added | TessellatingHeckler | If 'chase rainbows' and 'wild goose chase' are close to what you were thinking, were you trying to remember 'yak shaving'? It doesn't fit your description of a moving goalpost, but it fits the idea of "keeping on finding more and more things to do, such that we will never be finished" - more and more goalposts appearing between now and the final one. | |
| Dec 2, 2015 at 20:03 | comment | added | TylerH | @DCShannon Even worse, these examples describe tasks with imaginary goals, let alone moving goals. Definitely shouldn't be the accepted answer when we have "carrot on a stick" and "Sisyphean task" as well. | |
| Dec 2, 2015 at 18:48 | comment | added | DCShannon | This doesn't describe a moving goal, it describes the act of attempting to meet the moving goal. | |
| Dec 1, 2015 at 18:53 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2015 at 18:53 | comment | added | Elian | @dangerousdave You're welcome! | |
| Dec 1, 2015 at 18:47 | comment | added | dangerousdave | Thanks Elian, although not what I was trying to recall, "chase rainbows" will do nicely! | |
| Dec 1, 2015 at 18:46 | vote | accept | dangerousdave | ||
| Dec 1, 2015 at 18:08 | comment | added | WhatRoughBeast | Chasing rainbows is a good example - you can see a rainbow and chase after it, but it seems always to recede. The other two, though, are examples of chasing something which doesn't exist in the first place. | |
| Dec 1, 2015 at 17:50 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2015 at 17:37 | comment | added | Fattie | both excellent examples of a moving goal, or moving goalposts. | |
| Dec 1, 2015 at 17:14 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Dec 1, 2015 at 16:38 | history | answered | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |