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  1. #1
    Nobody expects the Senior Member Lemur's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 10 April Fools

    According to the Economist, the Finns are the most enthusiastic April foolers. Unless the article is another April 1 joke ... oooh, the paranoia is getting to me. It's kind of like The Matrix, but without the squid robots, the virtual world or the human gel capsules. Or the hot babes in vinyl catsuits. Or the soundtrack. But beyond that, it's exactly the same.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Fools' paradise

    Apr 1st 2007 | HELSINKI, MALABO AND PARIS
    Finland leads the world in weird sports and pranks

    THE Finns like a laugh. Famous for an annual wife-carrying competition, for regular success at the world air-guitar championship and record-breaking hurling of rubber boots and mobile phones, Finland can now claim another accolade: its citizens are reportedly the world’s keenest pranksters. Celebrated for a full week at the beginning of April in the capital, Helsinki, and for weeks at a time in rural areas, the traditional “spring joke” in Finland has been raised to a national art form.

    This long involved young men trying to catch the eye of women, typically by donning fancy dress (in the cold war a favourite was the garb of Soviet border guards) or through good-natured abduction—often in combination. More recently motorists have learned to watch for fake road-safety signs, which frequently cause springtime gridlock and collisions. Diplomats are increasingly wary of water-bomb attacks at functions—one thin-lipped European ambassador lodged a protest after being drenched in 2005. Even political leaders indulge. In 2003 the government apologised after stating that Finland wanted Sweden expelled from the European Union during a row about pickled herring.

    But Finland’s enthusiasm is not unique. Dr Is Poli-Savon, an anthropologist at the Paris-based Fairpooll Foundation, says that in many countries fooling is seen as a celebration of the end of winter. “In modern societies it serves as a rare chance for semi-subversive behaviour within safely defined parameters”, he says. Polls conducted by his team of researchers suggest that, despite suspicions to the contrary, many different cultures do share a common sense of humour.

    A surprising number of German adults take part in April Fooling, along with many French (see chart) who mark “poisson d’avril” by sticking paper fish on each others’ backs. Most Iranian jokers choose April 3rd, the 13th day of the Persian calendar, for mild joking. But not absolutely everyone sees the funny side. Adults in Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich speck of a country in west Africa, are reportedly the least inclined to find anything to chuckle about. Fooling by anyone over the age of 13 years recently became a criminal offence, with exceptions only for the president and his extended family.

  2. #2
    Member Member Kanamori's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 10 April Fools

    You forgot about guns and swords and secret agents with viruses.

  3. #3
    Ignore the username Member zelda12's Avatar
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    Default Re: Top 10 April Fools

    http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/...047565,00.html

    "Tony Blair has agreed to resurrect his interest in acting when he leaves Number 10 after he was approached about a major stage role by his close friend, the artistic director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey, The Observer can reveal."

    "Some MPs have, however, expressed concern. One senior cabinet minister, who did not wish to be named, said: 'An ambassador arrived at Number 10 the other day to find Tony dressed like a Puritan, waving a crucifix in the air and shouting about chasing out the devil. Fortunately the ambassador had studied The Crucible at UCL.'"

    I do hope it was an April fools.

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