April Fools’ Day

I want to tell you… I just gave birth to 5 babies last weekend. Isn’t that exciting? Oh, you don’t believe me? Okay then, I stole some money from a bank on Saturday night. Now do you believe me? (Actually, I hope you don’t.) April 1st, or April Fools’ Day, is the day when we play jokes on people. Do you have it in your country?

Vocabulary:

a fool– someone who doesn’t understand what is happening

to tease– laugh at, make fun of someone, joke about something

to play a joke (on someone)– to do something funny that another person doesn’t know about or suspect at first

container– something that holds something else, like a box, a bottle, or a jar

to play a trick (on someone)– same as play a joke

in the spirit of fun– with an atmosphere of fun, just for fun, lighthearted

April Fool’s Day started in the sixteenth century in Europe. Before that time, New Year’s Day was celebrated on April 1st. Then a new calendar was introduced called the Gregorian calendar. January 1st became the first day of the year, but many people did not know about it. So those who continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on April 1st were teased. They were called fools.

Nowadays we play jokes on people on April 1st. For example, someone might put salt in the sugar container so another person could “accidentally” put it in their coffee. Or someone might change the time on another person’s alarm clock so that person would unknowingly wake up earlier or later than planned. Or maybe a person would tell a lie to make someone else shocked.

After we play the trick, we say “April Fool.” Then the person realizes they were fooled. It is generally done in the spirit of fun and doesn’t cause any real harm to anyone. Do you have any great jokes to play on anyone on April 1st? Try it out. Just don’t forget to say “April Fool” when the other person begins looking a little confused.

Reference: April Fool’s Day (5minuteenglish.com)