Every year, on April 1st also known as April Fools, people often use silly jokes, friendly pranks to mess with each other. No one knows exactly when or where April Fools began. However, several interesting April Fools facts about this day have been recorded around the world. Let’s take a look at these facts. I am sure these April Fools facts will surprise you like they did to me!
April Fools around the world
Do you know, each nation has its own name for this day as well as the way to celebrate April Fools?. Let’s find out what the differences are!
France
In France, those who are pranked on April 1st is called “Poisson d’Avril” (the April fish). A “poisson d’avril” is a joke made on April Fool that people stick a fish picture on their friend’s back. Once the joke is discovered, they will shout “poisson d’arvil”.
Scotland
Meanwhile, in Scotland, April Fools lasts two days. They call the Victims of the pranks “gowks” which mean “cuckoo birds”. The second day is known as Taily Day when pranks and jokes often involve playing the backside jokes. Theoretically, this is the origin of what called “kick me” signs.
England
In England, depending on where you live, you can be called a “noodle”, “noddy”, “gobby” or “gob” instead of being addressed “fool” on April Fools.
Canada
There is a slight difference in the way people celebrate April 1st in England and Canada. In Canada, people only play pranks in the morning of the day.
April Fool’s epic pranks
Traditionally, on April Fools, people around the world will prank one another. The purpose of this is to lift the stress out of daily life and to bring about joyful atmosphere. The pranks and jokes often aim at making people laugh. There are several pranksters, individual or organization, having taken the prank to a whole new level.
Organization’s prank
Sparghetti trees
On April Fools 1957, BBC created an epic hoax. They convinced the nation that spaghetti was grown from “Spaghetti trees” in Italy along with Switzerland.
Expiration date for Green Cheese Moon
On April 1st, 2002, NASA posted a picture that proved the moon itself was made of cheese. They even went further with saying that the “Green Cheese Moon” had expiration date.
Gmail Motion
In 2011, Google released the news that they created Gmail Motion. This product would allow users to send and receive emails using gestures. The gestures used were hilarious!
Two-tiered service
Twitter joined in on the April Fools bandwagon around the world with its product announcement. Twitter said they were shifting to a two-tiered service. Those who wished to use the service for free can use Twttr. This would only allow to tweet consonants. Meanwhile, those who paid 5 dollars per month could use both consonants and vowels.
Individual’s pranks
The eruption of Mount Edgecumbe
In 1974, a man hauled 70 tires into the crater of a dormant volcano in Alaska on April Fools Day. Then, he set the tires on fire, terrifying residents living nearby into thinking the volcano was about to erupt again.
Disney buying MIT
On April Fools Day of 1998, a hacker hacked into the web server of MIT and changed the home page and posted that The Walt Disney Company had purchased MIT for 6.9 billion.
To increase the persuasion, he also put a link to a press release titled “Walt Disney Corporation to Acquire MIT for $6.9 Billion”.
The time Richard Branson flew an UFO over London in an ET costume
In 2008, during the celebration of April 1st, billionaire Richard Branson designed a hot air balloon to look like a UFO. In addition, he even hired a dwarf in an E.T costume to come out and scare whoever was being near it when the UFO landed.
These are some interesting pieces of information about April Fools facts. Did they make your jaw drop? They sure did it to me. Don’t forget to share with us which fact surprises you the most in the comment section below.