“愚人节(yú rén jié) April Fool’s Day” is an annual custom on April 1st consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting “April Fools!” at the recipient. Nearly anyone and everyone will get involved in creating jokes to deceive and amuse the masses.
April Fool’s Day has since developed into an international day of fun, with different nationalities specializing in their own style of humor at the expense of their friends and families. This can range from television and advertisements to children pointing down to a friend’s shoe and saying, “Your shoelace is untied”. Even the tradition of April Fool’s Day pranks in the media has a weird and wonderful history.
For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool’s Day was a fairly detailed documentary about “spaghetti farmers” and how they harvest their crops from the spaghetti trees.
Cheetos brand produced a perfume called Cheeteau. Actual bottles of Cheetos scent were created and sampled on the “Today” show, but the marketing campaign around it was just an elaborate prank.
愚人节(yú rén jié) April Fool’s Day
愚人 (yú rén) = fool
节 (jié) = festival
zài yú rén jié nà tiān, hěn duō rén xǐ huɑn kāi péng yǒu de wán xiào
在 愚 人 节 那 天， 很 多 人 喜 欢 开 朋 友 的 玩 笑。
People like to play tricks on their friends on April Fool’s Day.
zhè yì tiān shì yú rén jié, gēn jù chuán tǒng, rén men dōu xǐ huɑn shuǎ nòng hé cháo xiào bié rén
这 一 天 是 愚 人 节， 根 据 传 统， 人 们 都 喜 欢 耍 弄 和 嘲 笑 别 人。
It’s April Fool’s Day, a day when people traditionally like to try to make a fool of someone else and laugh at them.
cǐ wài, kě néng shì yīn wèi yǒu xiē rén de yōu mò gǎn gēn qí tā rén bù yí yàng bɑ, yīn ér tā men bǎ fēn shǒu de rì zi dìng zài le yú rén jié nà yì tiān
此 外， 可 能 是 因 为 有 些 人 的 幽 默 感 跟 其 他 人 不 一 样 吧， 因 而 他 们 把 分 手 的 日 子 定 在 了 愚 人 节 那 一 天。
And, possibly showing that some people’s sense of humor is more twisted than others, there’s a spike in breakups on April Fool’s Day.
On this day pranks “玩笑 (wán xiào)” can be innocent fun such as switching out the sugar for salt or putting mayonnaise in the toothpaste tube. Or the pranks can be elaborate but in China, for the most part, pranks are kept to a minimum and are relatively harmless.
恶作剧 (è zuò jù) prank
整 (zhĕng) trick
玩笑 (wán xiào) joke
wǒ xiǎng kāi gè wán xiào ér yǐ
我 想 开 个 玩 笑 而 已。
I wanted to play a prank.
tā men dǎ suàn zài mā mɑ huí jiā shí gēn tā kāi gè wán xiào
他 们 打 算 在 妈 妈 回 家 时 跟 她 开 个 玩 笑。
They are going to play a gag on their mom when she comes home.
If you really want to “忽悠 (hū you) pull someone’s leg” you’re going to have to get creative and be “鬼鬼祟祟的 ( guǐ guǐ suì suì de) sneaky since people are on high alert on April 1st.
忽悠 (hū you) v. to fool or pull someone’s leg
nǐ yòu bèi wǒ gěi hū you le yì bǎ
你 又 被 我 给 忽 悠 了 一 把。
You were fooled by me again.
Because everyone is expecting pranks, it’s nearly impossible to achieve the results you want.
But, once you’ve successfully pranked someone, you can say “愚人节快乐 (yú rén jié kuài lè) April fools!” Rember that this day is to get people to laugh and have fun being creative with pranks. It’s not intended to harm anyone or embarrass them seriously in front of others. It’s only a good joke if everyone can laugh at it.
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