A joke-free look at how April Fools' Day started

  • 📰 Newsweek
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 52 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 24%
  • Publisher: 52%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

A joke-free look at how AprilFools Day started

For hundreds of years, people around the world have been using April 1 as an excuse to play good-natured tricks and pranks on their friends, all in the name of April Fools' Day.

When people in France continued to celebrate the new year in April, either through ignorance or a refusal to accept the new calendar, they were teased by those who kept with the change as “April Fools.” Yet another disputed theory is that the origins stem from a line from Geoffrey Chaucher’s 1392 book The Canterbury Tales. “The controversy is over what Chaucer really wrote and whether there can be a direct link to April Fools' Day,” Simon J. Bronner, a professor of American Studies and Folklore at Penn State, told Time.

As reported by Vox, the first clear and documented mention of April Fools' Day didn’t occur utill the early 18th century after the line “Whence proceeds the custom of making April Fools?" appeared in the British Apollo magazine in 1708. Some of the most famous April Fools pranks down the years include Taco Bell announcing in a full page advert taken out in several leading U.S newspapers that they had bought the Liberty Bell in order to help reduce the national deficit.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 468. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

These Revealing Questions Will Tell You What April Fools' Day Prank To PullAnswer These Questions And We'll Tell You The April Fools' Prank You Should Pull
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

41 Genius April Fools’ Day Pranks Your Kids Will Totally Fall For41 April Fools’ Day Pranks Your Kids Will Totally Fall For April’s fools is cancelled.
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

How to unlock Google Maps Snake game for April Fools' DayGoogle Map users can play the game on maps of San Francisco, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Cairo, São Paulo and the world. I totally thought that said 'Snoke', now I am sad that I can't jam with the Supreme Leader... RIP google How is the avatar not SamuelLJackson for a game called Snake? April Fools indeed.
Source: USATODAY - 🏆 100. / 63 Read more »

17 Easy And Harmless April Fools' Pranks For Kids17 Harmless April Fool's Pranks For Kids That Are Easy To Pull Off I'm done. doughnut seeds...smh and gmao(guffawing my arse off). That's funny. They actually came up with a Donut Tree for the Facebook game, Pot Farm!
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

17 Harmless April Fools' Pranks For Kids That Are Easy To Pull OffAll of the fun of April Fools' Day with none of the trauma! Lame
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

Fact, fake or fool: A fiendish news quizWas a police appeal for information about a chicken crossing the road real, or just April Fools’ Day japery? Fact or fake: We’re all screwed Terror attack New York airport Damn. I consider myself to be a fairly well informed person but I couldn't even crack 50%.
Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »

13 April Fools' Pranks That Nice Parents Would Never, Ever Pull On Their Kids13 Sort Of Messed-Up Pranks You Should Absolutely NOT Pull On Your Kids bedoughboy16 for baby Aria when she gets older, or now. Lol 14. Unvaccinate them
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

14 April Fools Pranks That Prove Australia Has The Best Sense Of Humour14 April Fools Pranks By Aussies That Prove How Funny We Really Are FO Police Cat isn't that far off. Once a week you can go to our police HQ and see the dogs do their thing.
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

Fatburger says 'April Fool's,' regarding previous announcement of name change to SkinnyburgerFAT Brands Inc. , the parent of the Fatburger hamburger chain, said Monday that last week's announcement that it was changing its name to...
Source: MarketWatch - 🏆 3. / 97 Read more »