April Fool stories or Fake News..
Since at least as early as 1392, the date of the 1st April has been used as “April Fools Day”. It has also been common for the “April Fool pranks and stories” to only be applied until 12 midday on the 1st April, and never any earlier than the 1st April itself.
I grew up with the knowledge that if anyone played an April Fool after midday, the response would be: It’s after 12, the fool is on YOU.
With the advent of the Internet, some countries, especially the United States, will have seen the April Fool stories appearing on March 31st in their timezones.
However, in 2017, even before April had begun in the first country on the official dateline, there were some April Fools Stories being published. Presumably some people just want to be the first.
I saw one story, and a later headline to it, where they stated their surprise that people had not realised it was an April Fool. It surprised me as it was actually still March here in Australia where I am.
The story had been published in March, not April, and they expected people to know it was an April Fool story.
The joke truly was on them.
I’ve also seen some of these April Fool stories being referred to as “Fake News”, a new term that is now floating around.
Dateline: A line down the Pacific Ocean on which the calendar day begins and ends.
12:01 am 1st April in New Zealand would be the same time as
22:01 31st March in Brisbane, Australia
13:01 31st March in London, England
8:01 am 31st March in New York, USA
5:01 am 31st March in California, USA
2:01 am 31st March in Hawaii, USA
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