Rather like any humour, April Fool's Day pranks are only funny if you
are in the right mood. The extra factor on 'All Fool's Day', is
that the victim has to be in the right mood too!
Water on Mars: On April 1st 2005, the official NASA website
[National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA] uploaded a news
story regarding the discover of water on Mars.
Upon
clicking the link, readers were greeted with this picture of a glass
of water on top of a Mars bar! (See picture right.)
A clever idea became a funny hoax in 1986 when it was reported
that the Eiffel Tower was to be dismantled. This international
symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro
Disney theme park being built, at the time, to the east of Paris.
The noted British astronomer, Patrick Moore, announced on the
radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical
event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a
gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore
told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of
the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation.
Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.
The London Times reported in 1992 that formal negotiations were
underway to divide Belgium in half. For those who are unaware,
Belgium is a mixed country: the north is Dutch speaking
[Flemings]and the south, French speaking [Walloons], in a ratio of
approx. 5 to 3. It was announced that the Dutch-speaking north would
join the Netherlands [Holland] and the French-speaking south would
join France and that Belgium would disappear. The Belgian embassy,
in London, received numerous 'phone calls from journalists and
expatriate Belgians seeking to confirm the announcement.
On April 1st 1965, a Copenhagen newspaper, reported that the Danish
parliament had passed a new law requiring all dogs to be painted
white. The purpose of this, it explained, was to increase road
safety by allowing dogs to be seen more easily at night.
In 1980, the Boston's Channel 7 news announced that the 635-foot
hill in Milton Massachusetts had erupted. They showed footage of
lava pouring down a hill-side. They said that this eruption was a
result of a chain reaction set off by the recent eruption of Mount
St. Helens in Washington.
A full-page BMW car advertisement was run on 1st April 1986,
explaining their new car for driving between Great Britain and the
Continent. It was both left and right hand drive, had pedals on both
driver's and passenger's side, had a detachable steering wheel which
could go either side and a full set of instruments on each side, the
unused one being covered by a lovely walnut panel.
There was once a report that hawks [birds of prey] carrying
cameras would be used on the motorways of the UK by police to catch
speeding motorists.
Move the contents of a desk to another part of the office.
Tell male colleagues it's "wear a brightly coloured shirt day".
Switch the refrigerator's handle.
Hang clear cellophane across a doorway.
Hand someone a phone message asking them to return an urgent
call from Mr Lyon. The number listed is for the local zoo.
Do some "replacement changes" by switching the coffee room's
sugar with salt.
Tape is also very good when placed over the pickup button on a
telephone - no ring tone follows.
Send a colleague a fake email from HR, demanding that they go to
the HR floor to discuss their email habits.
Go into the victim's office and locate every pencil and pen in
their desk. Paint the tips with clear nail polish. When they try to
write, none of them will work. [After the prank is revealed, the
nail polish can be removed by dipping the pens and pencils in polish
remover.]
'Office pranks are good for morale and could even help reduce
stress,' a new report has claimed.
Will and Guy suggest that pranksters consider their victims
carefully to ensure appropriateness. We have been friends for many
years have learned that Guy is much more relaxed about pranks than
Will - so tread carefully.
'Playing a practical joke on a colleague could encourage
creativity and improve team-working,' according to an executive
jobsite. 'When people come together to create a prank, it encourages
creativity, teamwork and gives the office a shared experience
outside of the workload.' So writes Sarah Drew, general manager of
TheLadders.co.uk.
Whoopee cushions may be deemed inappropriate.
However, an alternative view is taken by Rosemary Haefner, Vice
President of human resources at CareerBuilder.com when she says, 'Pranking
at work can be risky business.'
Sitra Walker was an employee at a clothing store in Columbus,
Ohio. She had only been working there for two weeks, but already she
felt that she knew the manager well enough to joke around with him.
So on April 1, 2003 she called him up at his home and told him that
armed men were robbing the store.
The manager immediately called the police, who promptly
dispatched four cruisers. Minutes later Walker phoned the manager
again and screamed 'April Fool!'
Too late. When the police arrived moments later they weren't
amused and charged her with inducing a panic. Walker's manager fired
her.
This story reminds us of Plato's quotation: 'Wise men talk
because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to
say something.'
When I was a green horn teacher I
was slightly shocked by some of the strokes that older teachers pulled on their students. One episode that opened my eyes was Ned's
photography stunt. Because of cut-backs, old Ned Foreman had to run his 3rd year
photography class (now called Year 9?) with no money for film.
What Ned did was to assure his pupils that there was film in the cameras.
He then send them around and about to take pictures for their projects. When it came to printing
the non-existent photographs, Ned had a myriad of excuses; he seemed to invent a different excuse for every class. If he was in a bad mood, Ned would stage an event where the class
duffer opened the cameras. Ned then lambasted the stooge for accidentally exposing some old film he that he secreted in the cameras between lessons.
If he was in a good mood, Ned would take partial
responsibility himself, I remember him spellbinding my class with a dramatic tale of how a bird flew into the photography dark room (aka his kitchen) and caused a shaft of light to expose the film. On another occasion it was a long saga about
how a rabid dog ate the
film.
Guy the Greenhorn and his yogurt project
As a greenhorn, I was the reverse of Ned. I remember devising a bold project whereby the class made yogurt out of sour milk. It would be
illegal now of course, but rules were lax 25 years ago. Far from giving the class reasons why the sour milk did not turn into yogurt, I spent my own money and bought a dozen real cartons of plain yogurt
and claimed that their experiment was a great success.
Guy and the
Cactus - April Fools Day Prank
Years later when I was an older and wiser teacher, I pulled a stunt on my
class. The project for the Easter term was cactus. I invested some of the departmental
budget in some nice cactus plants for the pupils to take cuttings, we even had proper pots and a greenhouse to keep them warm.
Next, I arranged for a class outing to visit a local expert and admire his collection
of cacti. When they returned to the lab, the class were impressed, but they now wanted to grow
their own cactus from seed. Have you ever seen cactus seeds? They look just like gravel. Today is March 31st, what shall I do for tomorrow's
lesson?
Time for an April Fools
joke.
I could hardly keep a straight face as I told them that I managed to get some Cactus seed at great expense. In fact I was giving them gravel that I picked up on the way to the lesson. My pupils
dutifully planted the 'seeds'
in their pots. Finally, we formed a crocodile and deferentially stored the 'seeds'
in the greenhouse to germinate over Easter. At this point the bell went for the end of the
lesson, so I dismissed them with the words, 'You know those Cactus seeds you just planted - April Fool'.
»
More Student Pranks for April Fool's Day
Alarm Clock Confusion
Set ten alarm clocks so that they to go off at 2 minute intervals.
The skill is in the concealed placement, for example, behind ceiling tiles
or heating vents.
You could camouflage the prank by putting up signs around that say April
1st is Alarm Clock Day so people don't mistake the sound for a bomb.
Red Letter Day - B E R K
Each member of your gang needs to get a t-shirt with a different letter
printed on the front. Each person only needs one big letter. The
trick is to stand near members of staff while your group makes a word, then
you take a photo. Friends with letters B, E, R, and K can stand next
to your class teacher while you snap a photo.
Footnote Please send us your April Fool's Day pranks
and practical jokes.
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