愚人节 (yú rén jié) April Fool’s Day

“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.

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愚人节(yú  rén  jié) April Fool’s Day
愚人 (yú  rén) = fool
节 (jié) = festival

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Examples:

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.

More vocabulary:

恶作剧 (è  zuò  jù) prank
整 (zhĕng) trick
玩笑 (wán  xiào) joke

Examples:

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.

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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.

You May Want to Learn More :

“12 Heavenly Stems 10 Earthly Branches”
“How to apply 36 Chinese stratagems to business”
”Leveling Up Your Chinese Through Video Game Phrases”

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