APRIL FOOL'S JOKE
The positive view is that April Fools' can be good for one's health because it encourages "jokes, hoaxes ... pranks, [and] belly laughs", and brings all the benefits of laughter including stress relief and reducing strain on the heart. [37] There are many "best of" April Fools' Day lists that are compiled in order to showcase the best examples of how the day is celebrated. [38] Various April Fools' campaigns have been praised for their innovation, creativity, writing, and general effort. [39]
The negative view describes April Fools' hoaxes as "creepy and manipulative", "rude" and "a little bit nasty", as well as based on Schadenfreude and deceit. [35] When genuine news or a genuine important order or warning is issued on April Fools' Day, there is risk that it will be misinterpreted as a joke and ignored – for example, when Google , known to play elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes, announced the launch of Gmail with 1- gigabyte inboxes in 2004, an era when competing webmail services offered 4- megabytes or less, many dismissed it as a joke outright. [40] [41] On the other hand, sometimes stories intended as jokes are taken seriously. Either way, there can be adverse effects, such as confusion, [42] misinformation, waste of resources (especially when the hoax concerns people in danger) and even legal or commercial consequences. [43] [44]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day
April Fools’ Day—occurring on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.
Origins of April Fools' Day
Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar , as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.