Welcome to Slow American English, the podcast for learners of American English.
I'm your host, Karen Tolliver.
This is episode number 1504, April Fool's Day.
Each April 1 in the USA, people participate in April Fool's Day.
Other countries also celebrate April Fool's Day, or a similar Fool's Day.
However, it is not an official federal holiday.
It is just for fun.
On April Fool's Day, people play harmless practical jokes on each other.
In addition, print and broadcast media often create hoaxes that are then explained the next day.
Of course, the internet is a perfect place for jokes and hoaxes to appear every April 1st. Some even go viral.
A day set aside for jokes and tricks has a long history in much of the world.
Ancient Romans had a festival of Hilaria, in which pranks were part of the revelry.
In India, playful teasing is part of the longstanding Holi festival every spring.
Nowadays, in addition to America, other countries celebrate April Fools Day or All Fools Day, such as Canada Australia South America and across Europe in France and other countries the victims of pranks and hoaxes are called April Fish.
Mention of April 1st as a day of tricks and shenanigans has been found in literature since the Middle Ages.
In the Canterbury tales which date from the late 1300s Chaucer writes in Middle English of April 1st as the day a sly fox tricked an egotistical rooster named Chanticleer.
April Fool's Day is so well known that it is referred to often in songs, poetry, books and films either as part of the title, references in dialogues and descriptions or as inspiration for the plot line.
Many notable creative April Fools' pranks have been perpetrated globally throughout the years.
For example, in 1698 people were tricked into visiting the Tower of London to see the annual non -existent lion -washing ceremony.
In 1957, England's BBC broadcast a fake documentary about Swiss farmers harvesting spaghetti from trees.
There is even a virtual Museum of Hoaxes online at www .hoaxes .org, which claims to have a website.
One category of April Fool's hoaxes is a company announcing a phony product.
For example, American fast -food company Taco Bell one year announced it had bought the Liberty Bell, a cherished American historical artifact.
One fast food company, Burger King, promoted a new left -handed hamburger on April 1 a few years ago.
Individuals must be on high alert on April Fools' Day, because friends and family may prank them by replacing their deodorant with cream cheese or by putting plastic pink flamingos in their front yards.
co -workers may secretly change one's computer operating system to a foreign language.
Their bosses may send them on wild goose chases or ridiculous pointless errands.
That's the podcast for this time Slow American English is written and produced by Karen Tolliver Copyright 2015.
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This has been Slow American English.
I'm Karen Toliver. Thank you for listening.
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