April 1st is April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day! In many parts of the world people play tricks to each other, be they pranks or simply practical jokes. In Britain, Australia and South Africa, the tricks last only until noon, and if you play a trick after noon you are called an “April fool”, whereas elsewhere in the world (including the U.S.) jokes last all day long!
This is a day full of jokes, so what can you do?
– play a trick on someone (e.g. turning the clock backwards so that he/she will think it’s late)
– pranks (silly tricks) – e.g. wrapping someone’s car in newspaper, putting salt on someone’s toothbrush, etc.
– practical jokes (jokes that will make someone look foolish)- e.g. drawing funny eyebrows and moustache on someone’s face while sleeping
– hoaxes (when people give information that is not true)- e.g. On a serious news programme, BBC ran a famous hoax in 1957, about spaghetti growing in trees. Consequently, a large number of people contacted the BBC to find out how to grow their own spaghetti trees!
So often even media is involved to make the information more credible: radios, newspapers, TV stations, news agencies, magazines try to fool their audience in one way or another! For instance, back in the 50s a Dutch TV news reported that the Tower of Pisa had fallen over. Many people were shocked and contacted the station!
So remember: don’t trust anyone on April 1st! Have you been fooled so far or…. do you still intend to play a trick on anyone?
