A new month has begun, but on April 1st, we are caught out in more ways than just forgetting to change our calendars over or writing the wrong date on our documents; we also have to deal with getting potential pranks fired our way during the morning of the first of this month.
Although there are many explanations regarding where the idea of April Fool’s came from, one popular tale stems all the way back to 1564, when France decided to change their calendar to the modern Gregorian version, which involved moving the celebration of the New Year from the last week of March to January 1st. Consequently, those who continued to celebrate the end of the New Year’s Week on 1st April were classed as fools!
There is even a British Legend surrounding April Fools, associated with the one and only city of Nottingham, and a town within it called Gotham. An ancient legend taking us right back to the 13th century suggests that at the time, King John could claim any road on which he stepped, so the residents of Gotham refused him entry. When King John’s soldiers eventually forced their way in, the residents decided to act like lunatics, so the King decided that the punishment that would’ve been handed to them would be inappropriate due to their madness! As a result, April Fool’s Day was celebrated due to the Gotham residents’ sneakiness; unfortunately there is no solid evidence of this story, as much as I would love to believe it!
Today, April Fool’s is purely intended to instil a bit of humour in to an otherwise ordinary day, however as pranks and jokes have become so common in present culture, this might mean that April Fools is becoming outdated.
On the other hand, it doesn’t hurt to have a sense of humour, and it still is a pretty good excuse to play a prank on your boss without getting in to too much trouble. Take a look at some of these April Fools pranks by Mashable.
Make sure you don’t get tripped up this April Fools, with our range of health and safety equipment, you can count on The Workplace Depot to have you covered when you might need it the most!
Pulling a Prank?
Let us know if you’re planning on pranking anyone this year, although you might want to keep it anonymous, on either of our Facebook or Twitter pages.
Not too long ago in a previous blog post, we discussed the Top 10 Pranks to pull in an office – why not take a look if you’re hoping to hoax someone this April Fool’s; all intended to be harmless fun of course, enjoy!
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