The April Fools' Day Quiz
Estimated Completion Time 5 min
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Image: é Elena Ignatyeva/Demotix/Corbis
About This Quiz
If you think you know everything there is to know about pranks and hoaxes, the joke just may be on you. Take this quiz to learn why the merrymaking day came to be, how it's celebrated in different places and some of the best pranks of all time.
START QUIZ
First off, what's the holiday really called?
You'd be surprised how many people excitedly yell "April's Fool!" upon completion of a prank.
What is one theory for the origin of April Fools' Day?
There was a superstition about babies born on April 1, being a little dim.
A change to the calendar caused confusion in France.
King George III was born April 1, and people thought he was stupid.
And we'll see why calendar confusion could make one a fool ...
The calendar confusion came from ...
April was added to the year in the 1500s, and not everyone knew.
French people celebrated the new year based on the Julian, not Gregorian, calendar.
No one knew how to read a calendar.
Supposedly, those who didn't follow the new Gregorian calendar were made fun of for celebrating the new year in April, per the Julian calendar.
Some argue that the calendar interpretation isn't true. Why?
because legal recognition of the Julian new year was during Easter, not April 1
because the French traditionally celebrated the new year on Jan. 1
Although the French had a legal new year during Easter, most people always celebrated the new year on Jan. 1.
What is the French term for "April Fools' Day"?
Bonne Poisson d'Avril, tout le monde!
So what's a poisson ?
Happy April Fish Day, everyone!
Huh? Why a fish, exactly?
because fish are stupid like fools
because fish smell ... like fools?
No one really knows for sure.
Although fish being smelly seems like a good enough reason to make them a symbol for gullible folks.
OK, but what's a theory about where the fish came from?
the tradition of representing Christianity with a fish symbol
the symbol for the Pisces astrological sign, which falls around April 1
Still doesn't quite explain why it's related to pranks.
What's a funny joke the French play on people on April 1?
They throw a fish at you.
They put sugar instead of salt on your fish.
They pin a paper fish to your clothes.
They pin a paper fish to your clothes. Good one.
A professor at Boston University pranked the Associated Press by telling it that April Fools' Day started how?
His dad started April Fools' Day to sell more joke water-squirting lapel "flowers."
A newspaper sold an inaccurate story as a "joke" to the public to save face.
A Roman emperor made his jester king for the day and declared April 1, a day of silliness from there on out.
The professor said his dad started the holiday. Remember to double check all statements when you're talking to a professor who studies the history of American humor.
Ancient Romans celebrated the holiday of Hilaria in late March. What was one of the fun things they did?
They wore costumes. The spring celebration marked the resurrection of Attis, a companion of the important Cybele.
What did the Scottish traditionally call April Fools' Day?
Hunt the gowk (or cuckoo bird) day, that is.
The Belfast Zoo is flooded with calls on April 1, asking for whom?
Callers ask for Mr. Albert Ross and Miss Ann Tellope, apparently.
What prank really made Irish people worry in 1965?
The Irish Times claimed the government was going to have a prohibition on alcohol.
Guinness claimed there was a stout shortage, and it would be making root beer instead.
The queen said Ireland was coming back to the British fold.
The government was probably unamused by The Irish Times' prank but not as panicked as the citizens.
What classic April 1, prank from the BBC had Brits hoping for an unusual harvest?
a claim that chocolate worms would populate the soil around a planted Cadbury Creme Egg
a claim that money could grow on trees if you planted some coins with enough manure
a claim that the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland was underway
The joke was complete with film of farmers pulling noodles from trees.
Saddam Hussein's son Uday printed what April Fools' joke in a newspaper he owned?
that he wasn't really Saddam Hussein's son
that his father loved Christmas films
that the United States had lifted sanctions against Iraq
His joke that the U.S. had lifted sanctions wasn't that funny.
Where is the first concrete reference to an April Fools' joke being played?
A Flemish writer talked about a April Fools' joke in 1561.
Indian culture celebrates Holi near April, as well. It's a day of general merriment and fun similar to April Fools' Day, but what also distinguishes it?
People throw colored powder on each other.
People throw fish at each other.
People throw fish at French people.
People throw colored powder. There's a lot of dancing and partying, too.
What magazine had a famous April Fools' hoax cover story in 1985?
George Plimpton wrote a magnificent piece in Sports Illustrated about an imaginary baseball pitcher.
Who pretended to buy the Liberty Bell as an April Fools' joke?
The Liberty Taco Bell would've been delicious.
What amazing hoax did one Alaska man pull off on April 1, 1974?
He fought a bear and won.
He made the local dormant volcano appear to erupt.
He made Sitka, Alaska, a balmy 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius) for the day.
By dropping burning tires, kerosene and smoke bombs onto Mount Edgecumbe, a Sitka, Alaska, resident caused a bit of panic among residents.
What invention did Burger King claim on April 1, 1998?
All the condiments on the left-handed Whopper, Burger King claimed, were shifted 180 degrees for southpaws.
When did Google begin its tradition of April Fools' jokes?
The joke in 2000 involved asking users to simply think about what they wanted to search for.
What prank did Google pull in 2007?
It pretended it lost all its users' passwords.
It claimed users could get all their Gmail emails printed out on paper and mailed to them.
It said that Gmail was collecting detailed info for a dating database.
Of course I didn't say, "hmm, maybe I should get hard copies of my emails" when I initially saw that obvious joke.
A 1698 London newsletter first recorded people falling for what April Fools' joke?
telling people that they could just walk into the royal court that day
telling people to go to the Tower of London to watch the washing of the lions
telling people their fly was down and bopping them on the nose
There were no lions. And there weren't for the (literally) hundreds of years the prank continued.
A 1998 satire piece by a physicist convinced some people that ...
Alabama was changing the value of pi to a nice, round 3.
The article claimed Alabama was changing the value of pi. It was critical of the way evolution is debated.
Every year someone writes a detailed press release for a (nonexistent) April Fools' Day Parade in what city?
Since 1986 a prankster has written up press releases about a parade that doesn't happen.
National Public Radio published an April 1, piece online titled "Why Doesn't America Read Anymore?" What made it a joke?
The link directed readers to watch the comments to see if people responded only to the headline.
Many commenters were outraged by the contents of the article ... that they clearly hadn't read.
What event was no joke on April 1, 2012?
Mount Eyjafjallajokull erupted in Iceland.
A whoopee cushion factory caught fire and burned to the ground.
An asteroid nearly hit Earth.
OK, it came within 143,000 miles (230,000 kilometers). A near miss by the standards of the cosmos.
Who made April Fools' Day a national holiday in America?
President Franklin Roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt
FDR made it a national holiday. April Fools'!
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é Elena Ignatyeva/Demotix/Corbis
