Tuesday, April 1, 2008

April Fools Day



















If this year’s first day of April is like any other, you’ll have to keep your guard against the practical jokes that others can play on you, much to your annoyance and their delight. But what are the origins of the strange cult of April Fools’ Day?
There are a couple of explanations put forward by scholars to account for the trickery that takes place throughout much of the Western world on April 1.
One theory suggests that, because of the tradition of sending someone on ‘a fool’s errand’, the practice might derive from the Biblical story in which Jesus Christ was sent uselessly back and forth between Annas, Caiphas, Pontius Pilate and King Herod, each of them not being able to resolve what to do with him.
Sending people on fools’ errands has a long history. These days a teacher might send an unruly pupil to another teacher with the message “ Please give this boy a long weight”. All that the lad gets, of course, is a long wait. Or else he might be sent to the Industrial Arts teacher for a “left-handed hammer”. Either way, the joke’s on the boy, who probably deserves it.
In merry olde England the errand was for a gullible person to be sent to the saddler’s for a “ pen’orth (penny’s worth) of salad oil”. In this ruse, the pun is between “salad oil” and the French “avoir de la salade”, to be flogged. So the poor dupe got a beating for his innocent pains.
Other nasty people would send youths to a bookshop for the “ History of Eve’s Grandmother”, or to a cobbler for a little strap oil (the butt of the joke would indeed get the strap).The Scots have always loved April Fool’s jokes. They call an April Fool a gowk (or cuckoo; Anglo-Saxon geac, origin of the word geek), a name which even today sounds as descriptive of its meaning as it did in olden times. The trick was to send the dupe with an envelope containing a message to someone else’s house a long way off. The letter inside would only read:
This is the first day of April: Hunt the gowk another mile.
In this practice, known as “hunting the gowk”, the poor trickee was sent by numerous trickers several miles on a pointless errand. Traditionally, the Scottish April Fools Day is 48 hours long, with the second day being called Taily Day and dedicated to pranks involving the backside, such as the old “Kick Me” sign.

So, Have a Fun April's Fool and I'll talk at 'cha next year, after I get back from spending my million dollar lottery winnings...

13 comments:

jenn said...

What a coincidence...we won the lottery today too!

(((hugs)))

Donna said...

Jenn- LOL..So you Did read all the way through!!LOLOL...hughugs

dabrah said...

Donna, I'm so impressed with your knowledge about April Fools Day. I didn't know all that stuff, and I managed to impress my son by telling him about the source of the word geek. We were trying to decide whether it would be pronounced ge-ac or gake or geek in anglo saxon. We decided on gake. Hope you managed to get through the day un-fooled.

Donna said...

Dabrah- I'm sad to report that not One person "pranked" me!! I must be loosing my touch!!LOL..and I believe it Is gake...but I'll research it...You have a warm and wonderful sleep!!hughugs

Dawn said...

Happy April Fool's Day! I hope you have the winning numbers. I know you won't forget your family, but you wouldn't for get me, would ya? LOL

*HUGS*

Donna said...

Dawn- LOL...Now you Know I wouldn't!!!LOL...Did anyone play a prank on You today???hughugs

Donna said...

DABRAH -PS-And it's amazing how much you can learn on the internet!!lolol...night sweetie!!hughugs

Sally said...

Doggone it - Dawn beat me to it! I was gonna ask for a loan!! hahaha

Well, you are just a fount of knowledge here Ms. Donna! I had no idea about any of that, but I will say my daughter did NOT April Fool me this time; her hubby had already gotten her good by the time I saw her!! Payback is heck, dontcha' know? :)

Donna said...

Sally- I got 2 two's til Tuesday if you need it!!LOL...I was just Waiting for a prank, but everyone just stayed in their own little worlds!!lol...Hope your world is a Fun one today!!!hughugs

Brenda said...

I'm still waiting for my lottery check. I reckon it got lost in the mail. :-)

Donna said...

Brenda-Wellllll.....LOL....I Think that was mailed.....ahhhh....Well?.....ahhhh......LOL...I think the question is...Do you Trust me Baby??? Who's your Daddy???LOLOL.....

Gordon said...

Either you are one very knowledgeable lady or you did some serious research; either way I'm impressed!

Now that you are rich you could even afford to pay me a visit :-)

Donna said...

Gordon- LOL...If Only I WERE rich...I'll have to Keep trying to hit that lottery!!LOL...And what a trip That would be!!! You'd be screaming "bloody hell" before it was over!!LOL....Have a Happy day sweetie!!hughugs