April Tools
As everyone is well aware, today is April 1st, aka April Fools' Day. It is the one day of the year you can pull shitty pranks on your loved ones or coworkers and get some good laughs in returen instead of multiple punches to the face. We all expect to hear fake news stories or see funny websites playing up the spirit of the day. Last year's YouTube prank of Rick Rolling all the videos was classic. The Taco Liberty Bell? Another classic. But for all the great pranks, there are plenty of worthless attempts at chicanery that make us all glad this only happens once a year. For example, waking up to hearing the girl you have been dating for 6 months claim she is pregnant? NOT FUNNY.
You know what? In hindsight, that was actually a great gag. It accomplished exactly what it was supposed to and was completely believable. That's the beauty of good April Fools jokes, the complete believability. The joke has to be so unexpected that the reveal is actually a relief to the participant. However, as soon as one realizes that all day they could be presented with these falsehoods, they become skeptical of everything. The believability only last so long. The tip: strike early and only once. You know, fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, blah blah blah.
So here's today's April Fools' joke from your editor. This post has nowhere else to go. I wanted to write about how it seems the Japanese take practical jokes way better than Americans and how it has something to do with culture and our sense of self-entitlement, but I really don't have any evidence to support it other than a few online videos I have seen. I was also going to write about how you have to have a certain sense of humor to enjoy the day and debate why people sometimes just don't get it. But alas, none of those hypotheses made much sense to me, so I will end this musing early. However, do feel free to check out a fellow writer's attempt at a better explanation of the siginificance of April Fools' Day.
http://loki07.blogger.com/2009/04/Meaning_of_the_day.html
No comments:
Post a Comment