Singing Frog

A term in the IT and equipment maintenance industries used to describe a bug or problem reported by a user which, upon inspection, has no detectable cause, is unable to be reproduced, and simply "goes away" without any specific change in the equipment's settings or work done by the person servicing the problem.

This is not a derogatory term and while these problems are annoying and time-consuming the lack of explanation does not automatically place blame on the user.

The term is based on the classic Warner Brothers short, "One Froggy Evening", in which a singing and dancing frog will only perform for the construction worker who found it.

User: "My computer keeps freezing whenever I try to open <program>, specifically, when <detailed description>"
IT Helpdesk: "OK, I'll come down and have a look."

Much Later

IT Boss: "Did you fix User's problem?"
IT Helpdesk: "I couldn't find any problem, no matter how hard I tried. Guess it was a singing frog."

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A Singing Frog

A Singing Frog is the occurrence in which your attempt to show someone an ongoing symptom/ issue is squandered due to it's coincidental absence.

Most often occurs with:
Computers/ Technological Products, Cars, Mysterious Sounds etc.

Term is derived from the famous Looney Tunes short, "One Froggy Evening," in which a man finds a frog who routinely performs the song "The Michigan Rag" in front of him, yet remains silent and ordinary whenever he attempts to show him to anyone, driving him mad and resulting in his institutionalization.

Example 1:

Man walks into a car dealership after dropping his car off earlier that morning.

Man: So, did you figure out what the noise was?

Mechanic: Sir, there was no sound whatsoever.

Man: What?! What are you talking about, it keeps making this "SHHHISSHHHHARRRRERRRR" sound whenever it drives!

Mechanic: Yes... Of course it does, Sir..

Man: Ugh. I guess it's A Singing Frog.

Mechanic: (Raises eyebrows) What?

Man: Nevermind...

Example 2:

Dude 1: Dude. What is up with your computer screen? It's really fucked up. You should take it in.

Dude 2: Yeah but it only happens randomly. It'll probably not even act up when I take it in.

Dude 1: Ahh. It's A Singing Frog.

Dude 2: What? Shut up.

Dude 1: K...

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