April Fools’ Day – Things To Avoid

April Fools’ Day is meant to be funny. Having been raised in Quebec, April Fools is “Poisson d’avril”, which translates to… April fish! I haven’t done the research but I’m guessing that the origin of the expression is likely because people are trying to get others to “take the bait”, as a fish would? Regardless, in little school, the fun was to cut up paper fish and tape them on the back our our classmates, waiting to see how long it would take them to notice. Pretty harmless, wasn’t it?

But with the internet, it has changed greatly. Now, some people find “fun and entertainment” in faking news instead. This has the potential to cause some issues and that’s why April Fools has lost a lot of its appeal, in my humble opinion. There has to be an etiquette, some criteria that must be respected in order to be considered funny. To me, fooling someone with something that could be true is not humorous. To some, it appears to be… as long as THEY are laughing.

For the record, I hate April fools day. I have a great sense of humour but I see no humour in fooling others with what could be true, including Twitter accounts pretending to be official accounts. Humour should make others laugh. Not working.
— JD Lagrange (@JD_Lagrange) April 1, 2023

Rules

Here is a list of rules, or etiquettes, that should be respected on April Fools’ Day.

It must be harmless. If your prank can cause physical or psychological harm to a person, or a group of people, it’s simply not funny. Remember that we don’t know what people are going through in their lives and with the years of campaigning to raise awareness about mental health, folks need to be sensible. Don’t use a prank to isolate and humiliate someone.

Consider the timing of your prank. For example, there are families separated from their loved ones due to the war in Ukraine so pranking someone about that war may not be good timing. The same goes for a multitude of other examples, such as death of a loved one, divorce, mass shootings, or any other major events in the lives of others around us.

Keep it lighthearted. Fooling someone is one thing, but they should be able to laugh at the joke when it’s revealed. Silly and fun works much better than serious and threatening. You don’t want an April Fool’s joke to cost you a relationship, a job, or even worse, land you in jail.

Media outlets. That’s a bit extreme, granted, but there are people who will go to great lengths to fool more people. Don’t lie to journalists, for one thing. It goes without saying that if it’s reported on the news, whether it’d be newspaper, television or even internet, by a reputable newscaster, people will tend to believe it more. So news outlets should definitely stay clear of April Fools’ jokes and pranks.

Skip the scare tactics. Simply jumping out at someone may not be so bad, but pulling elaborate pranks that fake someone’s death are much less appropriate. For instance, if your girlfriend faked her death, how would that make you feel? Most people are left feeling hurt and vulnerable even after the prank has been revealed, so it’s a good idea to skip these types of pranks.

Avoid “good news” pranks. That is, don’t tell someone they’ve won a car, or got a promotion at work, for example. It gets their hopes up, and then you just have to dash them later. This type of prank can turn cruel very quickly.