April Fools' Day is celebrated in many countries on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other.
The origins of April Fools' Day are obscure. The most commonly cited theory holds that it dates from 1582, the year France adopted the Gregorian Calendar, which shifted the observance of New Year's Day from the end of March (around the time of the vernal equinox) to the first of January.
According to popular lore some folks, out of ignorance, stubbornness, or both, continued to ring in the New Year on April 1 and were made the butt of jokes and pranks on account of their foolishness. This became an annual tradition, according to this version of events, which ultimately spread throughout Europe.
The Romans, for example, celebrated a festival on March 25 called Hilaria, marking the occasion with masquerades and "general good cheer."
Notable April Fools' Day pranks and hoaxes:
One of the great media hoaxes of all time was perpetrated on April 1, 1957 by the BBC, which reported on its news program Panorama that Switzerland was experiencing a bumper spaghetti harvest that year thanks to favorable weather and the elimination of the dread "spaghetti weevil."
Staged video footage showing happy peasants plucking strands of pasta from tall trees was so convincing that many viewers actually called the network to ask how they could grow their own.
Some of the best-known pranks in recent years were mounted by advertising agencies. In 1996, Taco Bell ran a full-page ad in the New York Times announcing it had purchased the Liberty Bell and would rename it the "Taco Liberty Bell." Burger King pulled off a similar prank in 1998, announcing the rollout of its "Left-Handed Whopper" supposedly designed so that condiments would drip from the right side of the burger rather than the left.
On the Internet hoaxes have become such standard fare that April Fools' Day is barely distinguishable from any other, though a few notable pranks stand out and tend to be reposted year after year -- e.g., the 1996 announcement that every computer connected to the World Wide Web must be turned off for Internet Cleaning Day, a 24-hour period during which useless "flotsam and jetsam" are flushed from the system.
This year, Several websites caught the April fool buzz, for example, DailyMail reported that Owls have been trained to deliver mails just like in Harry Potter, Google's April Fool hoax about shutting YouTube, Sahara Reporters's April fool Joke about Patience Jonathan, and Goal.com's April fool punk about Arsenal FC
UK's Daily Mirror's prank story will send a chill down the spine of nervous flyers, as it announced the launch of a glass-bottomed plane allowing Virgin Atlantic passengers to watch the world go by during their flight.
The paper reported that planes would be diverted over Loch Ness to survey the spectacular scenery - and provided a clue to the story's purpose by saying that 'more glass floor jets will be introduced from April 1, 2014'.
On its website, the Mirror indulged in a second joke by allowing users to apply 'Instagram-style filters' which change the look of the homepage.
UK's Daily Mirror's prank story will send a chill down the spine of nervous flyers, as it announced the launch of a glass-bottomed plane allowing Virgin Atlantic passengers to watch the world go by during their flight.
The paper reported that planes would be diverted over Loch Ness to survey the spectacular scenery - and provided a clue to the story's purpose by saying that 'more glass floor jets will be introduced from April 1, 2014'.
On its website, the Mirror indulged in a second joke by allowing users to apply 'Instagram-style filters' which change the look of the homepage.
In 2012, NigerianEYE played an April Fool prank about Ngozi Okonjo Iweala winning the world bank presidency
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I had a filled day following the top pranks on dindindara, even twitter said they would start charging 5 dollars a month for vowels. it was too hilarious. Glad to see big technology companies can still relate to us in one way or the other.
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