2. Origin
The origin of this custom has been controversial. Many theories have been put forward.
It seems certain that it is, to some extent, a relic of the global celebrations held at the vernal equinox, which started on March 25th and ended on April 6th.
Some people think that April Fool's Day in Europe originated in France. According to the decree of Charles IX, France is one of the first countries to designate 1 month 1 day as the official New Year (many people have already started to celebrate this day). This was in 1564, even before the Gregorian calendar was adopted (see the beginning of julian calendar). Therefore, New Year's gifts and congratulations visits have become the characteristics of April 1 day, and are associated with the first day of April 1 day. Those who don't like or haven't heard of this change are fair games for smart people who entertain themselves by sending fake gifts and performing fake ceremonies on April 1 day. French and Dutch references from 1508 and 1539 describe April Fool's jokes and the custom of playing such jokes on April 1 day, respectively.
Although April 1 day seems to be an ancient common holiday in Britain, it is obvious that April Fool's Day did not become a common custom until the beginning of the 8th century. In Scotland, this custom is called "hunting cuckoo", that is, cuckoo. April Fool's Day is "April cuckoo", and cuckoo is there because it is a contemptuous term in most countries. In France, people who are fooled are called poisson d'avril. This has been explained by the association of the idea that the sun withdrew from the zodiac in April. A more natural explanation seems to be that April fish is a young fish, so it is easy to be caught.
There are other reasons why the Dutch celebrate April 1 day. 1572, King Philip II of Spain ruled the Netherlands. Wandering in this area are Dutch rebels who call themselves Geuzen. The name comes from the French word "gueux", which means beggar. 1 April 5721day, the Gessen people occupied the coastal town of Danbrill. This incident was also the beginning of the popular uprising against the Spanish in other Dutch cities. The commander of the Spanish army, Duke Alba, could not stop the uprising. Bril means glasses in Dutch, so in 1 April, 1572, "Alba lost his glasses". The Dutch think the joke is funny, so they still commemorate April 1st.
The French traditionally celebrate this festival by putting a dead fish on a friend's back. Today, fish is replaced by soft meat.
Chaucer's story, the story of a nun's priest, was written in c. 1400, which took place on March 32; Namely 1 April; This is the story of Chanticleer and Fox, two fools.
3. A well-known scam
Alabama changes the value of pi: The New Mexico Science and Reason Newsletter April 1998 published an article claiming that the Alabama legislature voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi to "Bible value" 3.0. This statement first appeared as a news story in Robert A. Heinlein's classic sci-fi work Strangers in a Strange Land.
Spaghetti Tree: The BBC TV program Panorama broadcast a famous scam in 1957, showing that Swiss people harvest spaghetti from trees. They claimed that the despised pest "spaghetti" had been eradicated. Many people contacted the BBC and wanted to know how to plant their own spaghetti trees.
South Park: On April 6th, 438+0st was promoted as the premiere of the second season of the play, which is also a suspense solution. Eric Kartman will discover his father's identity here. Fans spent weeks speculating about the father's identity, but when they watched this episode, they saw a joke about Terence and Philip fart for half an hour. A few weeks later, the real ending of this exciting film was broadcast. Sho w's creators, Trey Parker and matt stone, claimed in the DVD introduction of this episode that they had received death threats from pranks, although there was no police report to prove this.
Left-handed Hamburger: 1998, Burger King published an advertisement in USA-Today, saying that people can buy a hamburger for left-handed people because their seasoning drips from the right half.
Taco Liberty Bell: 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times, announcing that they had purchased liberty bell to "reduce the national debt" and renamed it "Taco Liberty Bell". When asked about the sale, White House Press Secretary Mike mccurry half-jokingly replied that the Lincoln Memorial was also sold and will be called the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial in the future.
Lies to get you out of the house 1985 Los Angeles Weekly published a whole page of fake things to do on April Fool's Day, and hundreds of people were fooled.
Kremvax: At 1984, in one of the earliest online pranks, there was a message that the newsgroup had been opened to users in the Soviet Union.
San Serriffe: The Guardian published a supplement on 1977, praising this fictional resort, its two main islands (Upper and Lower Caesay), its capital (Bodoni) and its leader (General Picard). Curious readers were later disappointed to learn that sans serif (sans serif) did not exist, but was only used as a reference for font terminology. This is a story from jorges luis borges.
The FBI cracked down on online music file sharing: it is already common to issue such an announcement on April Fool's Day.
Metric Time: This scam has been repeated several times in different countries, claiming that the time system will be changed to a time unit based on 10 power.
Olfactory vision: In 1965, the BBC claimed to have conducted a new technology experiment, allowing smells to spread to all viewers by radio waves. It is reported that many viewers contacted the BBC to report the success of the trial. In 2005, the Seven network in Australia also played this prank.
Leaning Tower of Pisa: Dutch TV news reported the collapse of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the1950s. Many shocked people contacted the TV station.
Packaging TV with aluminum foil: In another year, Dutch TV news reported that the government has new technology to detect unlicensed TV (in many European countries, TV license fees subsidize public broadcasting), but packaging TV with aluminum foil may prevent its detection.
Breast examination via satellite: In the11990s, the Portuguese national television network RTP announced that the Ministry of Health would conduct free breast examination via satellite, resulting in thousands of women going out topless.
The assassination of Bill Gates: Many China and Korean websites claimed that CNN reported the assassination of Microsoft founder Bill Gates [3].
Write-only memory: Signetics published the data manual of write-only memory IC from 1972 to 1970.
Wheel of fortune/danger! Double switch: In 1997, Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune, exchanged the host duties with Jeopardy! Alex Trebek of a show. Except Sajak hosts Jeopardy! He and co-host Vanna White appeared as contestants in the episode "Wheel" hosted by Trebek. White was succeeded by Sayak's wife Leslie.
Comic book cartoonist: Cartoonists in popular comic books draw each other's cartoons. In some cases, artists draw characters in the environment of other areas, while in other cases, artists draw characters of other visiting characters from their own environment. Cartoonists have been doing this "transformation" for several years. The 1997 switch is particularly common.
Tracy's Trouble: In 2003, Canadian Comedy TV Network announced that it would produce and broadcast a remake of 1970s Canadian sitcom Tracy's Trouble. The original series is widely regarded as one of the worst sitcoms ever produced. Several media outlets have been taken in.
Malta National Television (TVM): 1995, TVM announced the discovery of a new underground prehistoric temple with a mummy inside. Another year, TVM announced that Malta would adopt the continental European convention on right-hand driving.
Everyone has free wine: The Norwegian newspaper Bergen Times announced in 1987 that10,000 liters of illegally smuggled wine had been confiscated by the state's liquor monopoly company. The residents of Bergen were invited to the main shops in the town to collect their share of the goods, instead of pouring good wine into the sewer. About 200 men greeted the staff that morning. Women carry valuables with bottles, buckets and other suitable containers. Norwegian legislation makes alcohol relatively expensive and the supply is limited [need to quote].
Rainwater Power Generation: On April 6, 2006, Norwegian media reported a story about "Rainwater Power Generation", which can replace oil as the main energy source. You can write to BKK Energy Company in Bergen and become a volunteer to receive the generated electricity for free.
Bourque.org, a Canadian news website, announced in 2002 that Paul Martin, the finance minister, had resigned, "in order to cultivate high-quality Charolais cattle and handsome deer to run ducks."
SARS Infected Hong Kong: In 2003, during the severe attack of SARS in Hong Kong, it was rumored that many people in Hong Kong were infected with SARS and became out of control, and all entry ports would be closed to isolate the area. At that time, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa resigned. Supermarkets in Hong Kong were immediately overwhelmed by panicked shoppers. The Hong Kong government held a press conference to deny this statement. This rumor, which was originally an April Fool's prank, was started by a student imitating the design of Ming Pao website. He was accused of this incident.
(The Hong Kong government denied this rumor.)
China decapitated Taiwan Province: In 2005, a college student nicknamed "SkyMirage" was famous for his humor in Taiwan Province. He fabricated a series of news about the bombing of the presidential palace in Taiwan Province by the China Air Force.
There is water on Mars: In 2005, the official website of NASA published a news story, claiming that there were photos of water on Mars. This photo is actually just a picture of a glass of water on a chocolate bar on Mars.
BMW's annual innovation BMW promotes a new "cutting-edge invention" in British newspapers every year, such as:
Beware of fake BMW: the blue and white parts of the logo are upside down
"Doodle and calm horn" (from Tutankhamun), which can calm other drivers, rather than irritate them, thus reducing the risk of road rage.
Minicars are used in the upcoming Mars space mission.
IDS ("insect deflection screen") technology-when you drive, use elastic solutions to bounce insects off the windshield.
SHEF ("satellite ultra-sensitive electromagnetic food distribution") technology, which can synchronize the GPS system of the car with household appliances and cook a meal perfectly at the moment you go home.
The marque-Wiper-mini-Wiper of each external "BMW" logo is the standard configuration of all future models.
"Loosen the steering wheel" to deal with the "EU ban" on right-hand drive cars, and
Zoom the impression pixel ("ZIP") to counter the new "slow camera".
Shenglong-A scam of a secret character in electronic gaming monthly's notorious street fighter 2.
There are also EGM pranks that several other readers have fallen into. These include: claiming that some characters in Street Fighter 2 have special actions that are not listed, including Chun-Li throwing bracelets at opponents, Sega mascots Sonik and Tail appearing as playable characters in the melee of Super Crusher Brothers, and releasing a graphic adaptation of the legend of zelda: Awakening of the Wind as a pre-order reward. All these pranks have been praised and attacked by readers, which can be seen from the April Fool's Letter in the May issue.
EGM tried the Saint Dragon scam again with Street Fighter 3, which convinced some people again.
Coldplay supports the Conservative Party-On April 6, 2006, the British Guardian reporter Olaf prior claimed that Christopher Anthony John Martin of the rock band coldplay had decided to publicly support David Cameron, the leader of the British Conservative Party, because he was disillusioned with Tony Blair, the current Prime Minister of the New Labour Party [3], and even made an Song Fake song "Talk to David", which can be downloaded from the Guardian website [4]. Although this is an obvious scam, the media supervision department of the Labour Party is very concerned about this story and spreads it in "most departments of the government".
4. Side effects of April Fool's Day
The frequency of April Fool's pranks sometimes makes people doubt the true news stories published in 1 April.
Hawaiians fled the approaching tsunami in Shiloh, Hawaii. The Aleutian Islands earthquake and tsunami caused 165 deaths in Hawaii and Alaska, which led to the establishment of tsunami warning system (especially the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center). The Pacific countries were established in 1949. This tsunami is called "April Fool's Tsunami" in Hawaii, because people thought these warnings were April Fool's pranks and drowned Du E.
Gmail's launch in April 2004 was widely regarded as a prank because Google included joke pages on their websites until then.
The merger of Square and its rival company Enix took place on April 1 2003, which was initially considered as a joke. Fans of the long-running Plaza series Final Fantasy often claim that the merger is actually a joke because of the decline of the series after the merger.
The death of comedian Mitch Hedberg in 2005 was initially regarded as an April Fool's joke. The comedian's death on March 29th, 2005 was announced on April 1 2005.
Demahita! On April 1 2005, Aniplex, Cartoon Network and Dongying Animation announced the production of "Flying Little Policewoman Z", which was initially unbelievable, but when the poster art and clips of this series were disclosed a few days later, it proved to be true. [8]
People listen to prank messages and dial similar telephone numbers such as "Mr. Lion" and "Mr. Font", but the result is a zoo's telephone number, which sometimes causes the zoo's telephone switchboard to be seriously overloaded.
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