April Fool's Pranks...Gone Wrong.

On the Radio:

Two DJ's on a local radio station announced that Massachusetts governor, Thomas Menino, had died in a car crash. Unfortunately Menino was hard to reach that day and many friends and family began to panic. Eventually the hoax was revealed and the two DJ's were suspended without pay.

At Work:

A man was working on a major project for his work that had a far away deadline. He received a prank memo saying that the deadline was moved and his project was due in two weeks. He got so stressed about about that project that he experienced heart palpitations. He left work and was forced into early retirement. He also sued everyone that worked there.

At the House:

Randy Woods invited his ex-wife over on April Fool's Day one year to play a prank on her. His ex-wife showed up to find him hanging in the tree. (It looked like he was hanging himself but he was really being supported by a safety harness). His wife called 911 and he was later jailed for one year and fined $1,000.

Be careful with your pranks...you never know what could go wrong!

Classic Pranks

Here are some top ten classic April Fool's Day pranks:

• The classic taped sink nozzle to spray the victim.
• Salt or food coloring on the victim's toothbrush.
• Computer mouse/television remote - put a piece of tape over the sensor so that it won't work.
• But blue gatorade in a glass cleaner bottle, and drink in front of your friends.
• Take little pieces of vegetables and dip them in chocolate. Serve and enjoy.
• Toothpaste filled Oreos!
• Put 'push and pull' signs on the opposite doors.
• Wet sneeze - get your hands wet and spray them with water when you pretend to sneeze.
• Set alarm clocks at least an hour early.
• Set the victims TV volume really loud and turn the TV off. When they come to watch the show the volume will blast them right out of their seat!

What are some of your pranks?

April Fool's Day Across the Globe

Many countries celebrate April Fool's Day with different pranks and in some cases, at different times. Here are some of the most well known countries that participate in this worldwide pranks day:

France: The most traditional prank in France is Poisson d'Avril (which literally means April's Fish). A person tries to tape a paper fish to another's back without being noticed. This is also celebrated in countries like Italy (Pesce d'Aprile) and french-speaking parts of Canada.

Scotland: In Scotland, April Fool's Day is traditionally referred to as Hunt-the-Gowk (gowk means cukoo or foolish person). The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message to someone requesting help of some sort. The message will read "Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile". Once the recipient reads the letter he will tell the messenger that he can help but only if the messenger goes and contacts another person. The next person that the messenger goes to will recieve the same letter and it goes on until the messenger figures out that the whole trip was a prank.

Korea: In Korea, a form of April Fool's Day is celebrated on the first snowy day of the year. They would stuff snow inside of the bowls and sent it to someone. The reciever was then considered the loser and would have to grant a wish of the sender. Because the tricks were unplanned and therefore harmless, they were commonly done towards servants.
Denmark/Sweden: In Denmark, May 1 is celebrated as an alternative joke day. It is also celebrated in Sweden. When someone has been fooled in Sweden, the fooler says the rhyme, "April April din dumma sill, jag kan lura dig vart vill" which translates into 'April, April, you stupid herring, I can fool you to wherever I want'. Which apparently means something in Sweden. Since pranks are less common on May 1, both Danes and Swedes also celebrate April Fool's Day on April 1. Most Swedish news media outlets will publish exactly one false story on April 1, for newspapers this will typically be a first-page article but not the top headline.

Where It All Began.

It is unknown as to where the celebration of April Fool's Day began. Some believe that the holiday started in France, when they switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as called for by the Council of Trent. For some people, it took them longer to adjust to the new calendar. So while most people were moving in to the new year those who were slow to get the news and continued to celebrate it in the end of March through the beginning of April became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.

Another belief is that April Fool's Day originated from the vernal equinox, when the first days of spring began in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature tricked people with changing and unpredictable weather. In Britain people would celebrate the holiday over two days, where they played simple pranks on people such as pinning "kick me" signs on peoples' backs.

Many people as well as companies participate in this holiday worldwide. Many countries have their own ways to celebrate a holdiay which brings out the kid in all of us.