Category: Entertainment

A few friends and I wanted to try our hands at the casino tables this past weekend, so we headed to Niagara Falls and the newly constructed Seneca Niagara Casino. It had been a while since I was in a casino, so it was a cool refresher of just how riveting the whole environment is. Lots of glitz, lots of people, and lots of money traveling from people’s wallets to the casino vault. Yes, the house always wins.

However, I was most entertained by the people who were completely stone-faced at the slot machines. There they were, with their little frequent gambler cards plugged into the machines and attached to their hips by curly cords, just hitting “bet one” and “spin” over and over and over again. (I think pulling the slot lever is half the fun, but apparently that’s too old school for these seasoned slot machine pros.) One guy won 600 credits – about $150 on a quarter slot – and barely moved a muscle on his face. Now that’s excitement.

Anthony, one of the guys who went, taught the rest of us how Craps works (somewhat), which has got to be one of the more confusing – but fun – table games. As a matter of fact, I think it’s more fun when you have no idea what’s going on. We just kept moving our money around the table, following the other players who seemed to know what they were doing. We fit in just fine!

I was trying to figure out where April Fool’s Day originated, or why many European languages call it “Fish of April”. (For example, Italy calls the day Pesce d’Aprile and France calls it Poisson d’Avril.) I found the following blurb at InfoPlease:

In 1564 France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year’s day to January 1. However, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year’s Day April 1.

Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on “fool’s errands” or trying to trick them into believing something false.

The French came to call April 1 Poisson d’Avril, or “April Fish.” French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying “Poisson d’Avril” when the prank is discovered.

In 1752, Great Britain finally changed over to the Gregorian Calendar, and April Fool’s Day began to be celebrated in England and in the American colonies.

Oh those crazy French and their cries of laughter over … a fish. But, I suppose it does explain the phrases and where the idea of April 1 pranks came from. But now, April Fool’s pranks have matured to the point where they’re very nearly an art form.

The Museum of Hoaxes has a nice list of the top 100 April Fool’s Day pranks. And even Google is getting into the fun this year with its creation of the Google Gulp, a line of “smart drinks” designed to maximize your surfing efficiency by making you more intelligent, and less thirsty.