What’s the fool’s Day?

We all like to have a laugh once in a while, I know I do.

However some enjoy it more than others. One of the ways of raising a
titter is to play a trick on someone or to prank someone into believing
something that is not true or real.

Fortunately, for those who enjoy playing the occasional prank or hoax on
others, there is a special day put aside for just such an event. Of course,
I’m talking about April Fool’s Day. April Fool’s day occurs each year on
the first of April. On this day people will play tricks and pull pranks on
each other for fun.

Most of the pranks are harmless and cause no real upset, while some
create anger, outrage and even mass hysteria. There have been some
rather adventurous pranks played on the general public over the years.

For example, in 1980 the BBC reported that the four clock faces on the
famous Big Ben clock tower would be replaced by digital numeral
readouts. Many people call in to complain before it was revealed that the
whole thing was a big hoax.

In 1978 a wealthy adventurer returned from Antarctica to Australia

towing a large iceberg with the intention of selling chunks of the ice to
the locals. This turned out to be an elaborate hoax.

In 1998 the fast food chain Burger King released an advertising campaign
to promote a new product, the left-handed hamburger. Amazingly
thousands of people fell for the prank by showing up at burger outlets
asking for one of the left-handed meals.

In 1976 British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC radio that

the planets Pluto and Jupiter would align in such a way that here on earth
people would experience a change in the Earth’s gravitational pull whilst
jumping up and down. Amazingly, the BBC received calls from listeners
purporting to have floated around the room.
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In 1962 Swedish television viewers were told that if they stretched a
pair of ladies tights over their TV screens, the black and white picture
would become colour. Of course it was all a hoax. TV viewers in Sweden
had to wait another eight years before they could really see broadcasts
in colour.

So, what are the origins’s for the April Fool’s day? – Well, it depends on
who ask. There are many stories surrounding the reasons why we play
tricks on April, the first.

Ironically, most of the stories surrounding April Fool’s day are made up.
The first written reference of April Fool’s day appears in Geoffrey
Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tale published in 1392 where a mix-up with
the wording of the dates refers to there being 32 days in March.

Another origin, albeit an unlikely one, occurred in France when the

Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1564 which meant that from there on
the new year would be celebrated on January, the first and not at the
end of March. Those who continued to celebrate after the change on
April, the first were labeled as fools.

Other theories are that the date refers to the Roman festival of Hilaria
or a revolt against Christianity, when an annual day of chaos took place as
a protest organized by the worshippers of demigods.

In all honesty, it would be fair to say that there is no definitive reason

why April Fool’s Day really exists. April Fool’s day is also known as All
Fool’s Day in some places. To many people the act of playing pranks and
hoaxing others for fun seems childish and infantile.

However, this has not stopped from fooling each other with their
creative shenanigans.

Have you ever played an April Fool’s joke on anyone?

Have you ever been a victim of an April Fool’s hoax? Did you fall for it?

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 In this instance, to fall for something means that you were taken in or
fooled by the hoax or prank you were made to look stupid, you are made a
sucker of, you are made to look a fool, quite the April fool, if you will.

Resource: YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZHweAKRQbzA

Today’s keywords:
Prank: to play a trick or to fool someone with a practical joke.
Hoax: a form of a joke where someone pretends that something will or has happened.
Instance: the occurrence of something or an example of something occurring.

Match the columns:

1. Titter A. a foolish person
B. A form of joke or a deceive action
2. Trick
C. although
3. Readouts D. information produced by electronic
4. Towing equipment, shown on a screen
5. Whilst E. secret or dishonest activities, usually
6. Purporting of a complicated and humorous type
F. semi gods
7. Made up
G. the choice and meaning of the words
8. Wording used when you say or write something:
9. albeit H. to invent a story or to behave as if
10. Demigods something is true when you know that it is not
11. Shenanigans I. to laugh nervously, often at something
12. Sucker that you feel you should not be laughing at:
J. pretending to be or doing
something, especially in a way that is
not easy to believe:
K. to pull a car, boat, etc.
along, fastened behind another vehicle or boat
L. while