April Fool's Day ("practical jokes"/pranks)

[abby normal]

I was tickled by the BBC's old "spaghetti harvest" routine.

 

[Suzanne]

It is certainly powerful when our thoughts are transferred to written form.

Glad you think it is cruel, especially with terrorist attacks.

I am so glad I do not participate in this and those I know, don't.

Just like celebrities who reinact is is and they retaliate, that involves "innocent" people.

Think if someone with a bad heart was to get a fright?

 

[tree]

"No Pranks After Noon
This rule appears to be peculiar to English-speaking countries. The custom is that pranks can only be perpetrated until twelve o'clock noon. After that time, anyone who tries to play a prank is himself (or herself) the fool.

There's probably an element of ancient folk belief lurking behind the rule. April Fool's Day honors the spirit of Folly, which is a powerful force. And as such, it needs to be contained within strict temporal limits, lest it overspill its boundaries and cause chaos throughout the rest of the year.

Although there's no known record of this rule having been explicitly articulated outside of English-speaking countries, it's nevertheless widely observed, for a practical reason. People are more likely to be fooled in the morning, when they might not remember what day it is. As the day progresses, they'll wise up, and pranks against them have a higher chance of failing.

The earliest reference to this rule is found in the British journal Notes and Queries (Aug 11, 1855) by a correspondent who noted that it was a tradition in the county of Hampshire that those who played pranks after twelve o'clock on April 1 would be greeted by the following verse:
April fool's gone past,
You're the biggest fool at last;
When April fool comes again,
You'll be the biggest fool then.

Half-a-century later (Apr. 15, 1905), several more correspondents to Notes and Queries recalled the rule being strictly in force during their childhood in the mid-nineteenth century. For instance, Harry Hems. wrote: "It is fully half a century ago since I left school, but it is well within my recollection that the practice of playing pranks upon one's fellow pupils on 1 April was not permissible after noontide. Then those who had been tricked by their companions were pointed at by the latter, and the following somewhat dense couplet hurled at them: 'April's gone, and May's come; You're a fool and I'm none!' "

What are the rules and customs of April Fool’s Day?

April Fools' Day

 

[tlc]

I went all day today at work and nobody even mentioned it or appeared they even remembered it. Surprising because this one gal seems to do something every week for some weird unofficial holiday, or official holiday if there is one.

One electrical engineer I used to work with (99% sure he was AS) used to be quite the practical joker. He would glue your coffee cup to the table when you weren't looking. Or for the several people who type with 2 fingers and staring at the keyboard, he would switch some of the letters on their keyboard.

I don't see the humor in being tricked, or in tricking someone. I don't rage over it if done to me, but to me it's just a waste of time.

 

[paloftoon]

Some jokes can definitely be taken too far. saran wrapping all the furniture? Well, if he at least cleaned up the saran wrap afterward, then that's okay even though it's a waste of saran wrap. Even with silly stuff, there are still ways to be respectful about it even if you don't agree with it.

 

[Cinnamon115]

I'm okay with it, as long as people don't get too mean about it. Like putting sticky notes on people's backs. I don't like that stuff. I also don't like prank news articles because I always get my hopes up then I realize it's not real. Like yesterday I saw something about a Kirby Roomba and it looked awesome. Then I saw it was a prank and got disappointed. But there's some I do find a bit funny. I heard once about someone at a college putting up signs that the card readers have been replaced by voice activation and you needed to speak to the reader. That one was funny. But you have to know how people will react to that and they shouldn't be too mean spirited.