Monday, March 31, 2008

APRIL FOOLS!

I just love a good practical joke! Well, I love impractical jokes too. In fact, I enjoy just about any kind of joke. Except maybe knock-knock jokes--most of them, anyway. So I thought and thought (for about 10 minutes in the car on the way home from work) about what I could do on my blog as an April Fools' joke, and everything I could come up with seemed (1) dumb, (2) mean, or (3) guaranteed to worry some of my readers. So I don't have a good April Fools' joke for you. Bummer!

Instead, I thought I'd share with you some April Fools' info. Here's some general background that you probably already know:

April Fools' Day takes place in many western countries every April 1st, and is traditionally known as April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day (aka Poissond'Avril ("April Fish") in France). It is a day when humor reigns and harmless pranks, practical jokes, and hoaxes are sanctioned. Customary practices range from simple tricks played on friends, family, and coworkers to elaborate media hoaxes concocted for mass consumption.

I think some of the media hoaxes are worth mentioning, and you may NOT know about some of these. I found a site that listed quite a few, but I thought I'd repeat for you what they list as the top five:

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest


In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

#2: Sidd Finch


In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

#3: Instant Color TV


In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

#4: The Taco Liberty Bell


In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

#5: San Serriffe


In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.

DO YOU HAVE ANY APRIL FOOLS' FUN PLANNED? I'd love to hear about any pranks you've planning, any pulled on you, and/or any memorable ones from years past! Have a Happy APRIL FOOLS' DAY!

9 comments:

Cowguy said...

Kim said: "DO YOU HAVE ANY APRIL FOOLS' FUN PLANNED?"

Always.


:-)

J.

Red Geranium Cottage said...

I'm not telling you of all people what I'll do. LOL!!! Are you kidding???

Anonymous said...

I hate April Fool's day! I'm always scared to death someone is going to try to play a prank on me, and I won't believe them, and then find out that it was true! I bet you come up with some doozies!

Sew Create It - Jane said...

The BBC got me and my DH hook line and sinker this morning with their flying penguin story.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/01/npenguin101.xml

Nancy said...

My son always serves his dad a glass of milk that is loaded with salt. I should say that my son is 15, has done it every year and STILL actually fools his dad.

Nan said...

I am a fool every day, so why should April 1st be any different? LOL I have no plans to fool anyone today, but I certainly have in the past! Nothing interesting enough to write about. You'll have to do enough "fooling" for me, too, Kim!
Have a great day!!

Anonymous said...

At the school where I work, someone covered the ladies toilets with thin plastic foil and then put the seat back down. Do I have to go into details what happens when you go to the toilet without noticing the foil????
Let's just say that the ladies were "not amused" :(
Enjoyed your April fool's stories!

MARCIE said...

Hi KIm, Leave it to you to give us the history of April Fools Day! Really fun stories! In our family my daughter calls her Dad every year and tells him she is pregnant! He fell for it many times! Pretty soon his granddaughters can start playing that joke.

coffee maker said...

the Taco Liberty Bell has to be the best April fool's prank ever