In a previous job working at a mine, Melissa Patrick said she pranked co-workers who were in the mine pit that there was a fire up above. In his haste to get out of the pit, one of her co-workers jumped his dozer off the stock pile. When he arrived at the top she greeted him with "April Fools."
Wells Fargo bank teller Karina Acosta told of a customer who was excitedly telling her that she was on the way to Reno to see her sister who had just won the California Lottery. After returning home to Lovelock the customer let Acosta know that it was an April Fool's joke.
Last year the newly pregnant Jeana Dotson called her friends and family on April 1, telling everyone she was pregnant with twins. But the joke was on her when she later found out that she was having twins. She said that she had to show everyone her ultrasound pictures before they would believe her the second time.
It is not quite sure where April Fool's Day got its start, although the most common theory is that in 1582 France, King Charles the IX changed the old Julian calendar to today's current Gregorian calendar. According to the Julian calendar the New Year fell on April 1, under the Gregorian calendar it moved to Jan. 1.
Communications being the way they were in the late 16th century, many people did not find out about the change right away and others just refused to take on the new tradition. These people were named as fools and had jokes played on them by the other informed citizens.
Another scenario for the beginning of April Fool's Day dates back to the 12th century, according to http://crossingtimezones.com/2011/04/01/origins-and-traditions-of-april-fools-day-around-the-world/, when all the residents of an English town pretended to be crazy to keep King John from traveling though. According to the website, any streets the king's feet walked on became the property of the king and the people of the town did not want their town to become the property of the king.
A quick Google search will show many suggestions as to how, when and why we celebrate April 1 as April Fool's Day. The website http://aprilfoolzone.com/ is dedicated to helping would-be pranksters find just the right prank to pull on April Fool's Day. For kids the Kids World website http://www.kidzworld.com/article/1939-april-fools-practical-jokes-and-pranks offers pranks kids can play.
What is reported by the Museum of Hoaxes in San Diego, Calif., on its website www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/ to be the first television April Fool's joke was in 1957. The BBC program "Panorama" broadcasted a segment on a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The show's anchor, Richard Dimbleby, attributed the success of the crop to an unusually mild winter and the disappearance of the spaghetti weevil. Viewers of the program watched footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off of spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. "The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest" hoax spawned hundreds of phone calls to the BBC from people inquiring how they could grow their own spaghetti.
The website shows other media-related April Fool's jokes.
April Fool's Day rules are published on the Ethics Alarm website http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/04/06/april-fools-day-ethics/. Included in the rules are that April Fool's jokes and pranks should not cause damage to property. They also should not cause harm to the victim of the joke or prank and that after the initial deception the prankster has the responsibility to inform the victim that it is an April Fool's joke.
Have a safe and happy April Fool's Day.
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