Why is April 1st a special day? What makes it different from the other 364 days of the year that we can barely get through? We’re going to tell you, but warning, know that this day makes fools of us all.
April 1st is a day for pranks, hoaxes and jokes. In Anglophone countries, it has been an unofficial holiday since the 19th century. No fish are involved here – that’s a weird French thing that you’ll have to take up with Madame Bovary.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales makes the first written connection between this date and foolishness. In it, the author describes a rooster being tickled by a fox. Those were crazy times, but who among us is not a bit turned on right now?
Once a prank has successfully been pulled, the butt of the joke is exposed by shouting “April fool!“. But it’s important to note that all joking must stop by noon. A person playing a joke after midday is the “April fool” themselves, also known as a noodle, gob, gobby or noddy in the United Kingdom.
Most importantly, you should note that anyone wearing blue on April fool’s day is entitled to be slapped by a child with brown eyes which is why there are so many recorded assaults by children in early April.
That’s not true. Happy April Fools Day!