April Fool

April Fool!




How many times have you heard that? How many times have you wondered where it came from? Even so, would you please keep reading?

Way back when, the new year began around April 1, as it was related to the vernal equinox. In 1582, Pope Gregory ordered up a new calendar -- called, not so coincidentally, the Gregorian calendar. Spooky, like Lou Gehrig catching Lou Gehrig's Disease.


The new calendar moved the beginning of the year to January 1. As there was no CNN back in 1582, and the newspapers that are now failing had not yet been invented, a lot of people didn't hear about Greg's New Year, and some of those who did hear about it declined to adopt it. The early adopters of the new New Year made fun of those who didn't know or refused to switch, and the non-compliant were referred to as April fools.

Another version of the origin of April Fool is that back in BC May 1 was the day for planting crops, and people who jumped the gun were referred to as April Fools.

Yet another explanation is a reference in The Canterbury Tales to the actions of fools on the date March 32nd. Comedy Channel hadn't been invented yet, either.

There's a history of pretty good April 1 pranks, including:

Burger King advertising left handed Whoppers
Taco Bell purchasing the Liberty Bell : the Taco Liberty Bell
Lincoln Mercury buying the Lincoln monument : the Lincoln Mercury monument
The invention of spaghetti trees
Countries shifting to metric time
The discovery of Sidd Finch, the baseball pitcher with a 168 mph fastball

None of that stuff was all that funny or clever, but it was better than what's going on today. There's supposed to be some nasty computer virus that busts loose this year on April 1.

Bet Greg never saw that one coming.