alias fake hostname via /etc/hosts

In /etc/hosts, I added the following line: github.com git.hub In chrome browser, when I enter the address git.hub it can't redirect to github.com, instead it does a search. In Linux terminal (e.g bash), when I enter cmd ping git.hub, it says git.hub: Name or service not known. In my /etc/nsswitch.conf, the hosts config is like this: hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns myhostname I suppose it means check the /etc/hosts first, then dns. So, why git.hub can't become an alias for github.com after my configuration. And, is there anyway to achieve that, without actually change the DNS record.