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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018
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Fool your friends,
before they fool you
April Fools’ Day isn’t
just for corporate
shenanigans and media
trickery.
By AARON BRENIMAN
For The Daily Astorian
S
pring’s arrival marks the coming of
April Fools’ Day, that delightfully joy-
ous celebration of pulling one over on
your friends and family members. Whether
you select the harmless approach or prefer a
more sinister in nature approach, April 1 is a
great day to get playful.
According to Wikipedia, history.com,
hoaxes.org and Snopes, there’s plenty of
controversy surrounding the origins of April
Fools’ Day, also called All Fools’ Day.
While some sources date it back to Chau-
cer’s “Canterbury Tales,” other references
source it to the mid 1500s when France
switched from the Julian calendar to the Gre-
gorian calendar. Other theories range from
the Middle Age’s New Year’s Day celebra-
tions ending on April 1 to far-stretching Bib-
lical references to Genesis and Noah and the
ark, sending the doves out on the first day of
April. If there’s a consensus, it’s that there’s
no agreement on the day’s origins.
And Western cultures aren’t the only ones
to celebrate, an equivalent day in Spain and
Hispanic America is “Day of the Holy Inno-
cents” and in Belgium the day used to be
known as the “Day of Stupid Children” or
“Day of Innocent Children” where parents
and grandparents play tricks on their kids,
but has reportedly lost favor recently to April
Fools’ Day.
In Scotland, a two-day event featured
“hunting the gowk” in which people were sent
on phony errands (where the gowk is another
word for the cuckoo bird, a symbol for a fool)
and then followed by Tailie Day, where stunts
feature placing signs suck as “kick me” on
unsuspecting individuals backsides.
Joke, prank or hoax?
First off, some semantics. There are jokes,
Upsplash
which Merriam-Webster describes as “espe-
cially, a brief oral narrative with a climac-
tic humorous twist.” Then there’s the prank,
defined as “a mildly mischievous act,” which
is a little more like it. And then there’s a hoax,
which is defined as “to trick into believing
or accepting as genuine something false and
often preposterous.”
So, April Fools’ Day shenanigans often fall
somewhere in the prank-hoax realm.
Many corporate and media stunts have
played prominently into the advance of the
day, including the BBC’s 1957 reporting of
a record spaghetti crop in Switzerland, com-
plete with noodle harvesting photos. In 1996,
Taco Bell spoofed buying Philadelphia’s Lib-
erty Bell and claiming its subsequent renam-
ing to the Taco Liberty Bell; while in 1998,
Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed
Whopper” leading many to attempt to actually
order the burger.
One of the most extravagantly planned
pranks was the “Eruption of Mount
Edgecumbe” in 1974, when practical jokester
Oliver “Porky” Bickar flew in piles of old tires
soaked in kerosene into Mount Edgecum-
be’s crater, lighting them to create plumes of
thick black smoke leading many residents of
the sleepy Alaska town of Sitka to take to the
streets thinking the mountain was erupting
In 1992, NPR’s Talk of the Nation fea-
tured a hoax where a Nixon impersonator
announced that he’d again be running for
president, claiming “I didn’t do anything
wrong, and I won’t do it again.” After listen-
ers flooded the stations with calls, the station
announced during the second half of the show
that the bit was, in fact, a prank.
‘Fake news’
It’s interesting to contemplate the history of
April Fools’ Day’s with today’s “Fake News”
epidemic, covering everything from trickery
to propaganda to maliciousness. These days,
social media and some media outlets regularly
spread “fake news” and false stories, pranks
and hoaxes, but lacking a similar intent.
Wikipedia itself even set its “Rules for
Fools” as a sort of ‘code-of-conduct its edi-
tors to allow them to creatively have fun
with the day, but to be responsible in their
approach.
Personally, I tend to prefer the harm-
less, but am tempted toward the more mis-
chievous. I’ve always wanted to Saran Wrap
a toilet, although I figured I’d end up hav-
ing to clean that one up so I’ve never actu-
ally done it. I’ve heard of offices and cubi-
cles covered in tinfoil, bedrooms completed
flipped in arrangements. Need an idea? Take
a cue from how Jim messes with Dwight on
“The Office” and pull off one of his many
tricks (desk moved to bathroom, items in
Jell-O, call a co-worker a different name,
convince them it’s a different day) … even
though April Fools’ Day falls on a Sunday,
take it to the workplace and pull pranks on
Monday or Friday.
I’ve asked a few friends and on social
media about their best pranks, favorite ones
pulled on them or toward others. I’ve talked
with those that favor and enjoy the simple,
harmless stunts. Some have even pulled quite
intricate, slightly malicious hoaxes on part-
ners or spouses.
The basic consensus: it’s far better to
prank than to be pranked. So get creative, get
the jump, start the day strong, go long with
friends and family near and far. You’ll also
be more aware when it comes your turn from
others.
May your merriment be laughable, cordial
and follow the general theme of hilarity.
Aaron Breniman is a freelance writer based
in Portland, When he’s not talking about out-
door safety or what he’s reading, he can most
likely be found fishing small streams or enjoy-
ing mountain sunrises and sunsets bathed in
silence and solitude. For this assignment, he
tied it up on aboard a flight from Munich to
San Fransisco and is all to quick to encourage
you to quit your job if you’re not happy. Con-
tact him or find him on the socials via www.
aaronbreniman.com