Skip to main content

The Perfect April Fools Prank

April April! - Claudia Hautumm  / pixelio.de


As a child I was always looking forward to the months of March and April. March because my birthday was coming up and April because some real mischievous fun was coming up on April Fools Day.

April Fools Day or April 1st is an unofficial national holiday in Switzerland where everyone tries to outdo the others with the best prank. This includes school children, parents and even most national newspapers. It's always fun to check different news stations for their April Fools Fake News.

As with most holidays where children are usually the ones who enjoy them most, April Fools Day in Switzerland is a feast mainly for its underage population. Doing something silly and then shouting "April April" is just the best! Looking back to my own childhood, there is one April 1st prank that stands out. I was in 3rd grade and the whole class conspired together to create the perfect scare for our (poor) teacher.

The Perfect Aprils Fools Prank

A little background to my story: The primary school curriculum in Switzerland includes textile crafts class and a workshop class where you also learn to use different machines to work materials like wood and metal. During my schooling years, this mandatory workshop class went from 3rd to 5th grade.

The workshop class offered the perfect setup for our prank. We were just learning to use mechanical saws which can be dangerous if not used correctly. Our teacher was always reminding us to stay focussed while we worked and to always keep our fingers, hair and other body parts in check. There was also one larger mechanical saw that we weren't allowed to use.

You might be able to guess where this is going. The boys in our class decided to do a classic ketchup setup where someone pretends to have cut themselves heavily and smears the tomato paste all over. The big saw was to be the center piece of this act.

We needed a distraction. We had to make our teacher leave the room for a moment so we could set up the blood display. This was the task of the girls. Some of us were to go downstairs and then call to our teacher in distress so she would go check out what's going on only to be called back up by hysterical screams from the rest of us.

What a neat little plant, right?! We pulled it off perfectly. I'll never forget the teachers shock and horror at the sight of the big saw, the small student and lots of ketchup all over. Even though we quickly told her that it was just a prank ("April April") she was clearly shaken for quite a while afterwards. Oh, and she got mad! We got some sort of punishment but I cannot remember what. Clearly, the fun of the prank outdid the punishment.

Looking back on it now, it seems like a very brutal joke to play on anyone. There are definitely funnier and more subtle ways to play a prank on April Fools Day!



© 2017 IRENE WYRSCH "A HUMOROUS GUIDE TO SWITZERLAND" ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Schätzli, Schnüggel and Müüsli - Terms of Endearment in Swiss German

Kiss -  Oliver Haja  / pixelio.de If you've ever been invited to the home of a Swiss couple, you are probably familiar with the most popular Swiss German term of endearment "Schätzli" ('little treasure') or one of it's many varieties like e.g. "Schatz" or "Schätzeli" . Obviously, this is not the only pet name used by Swiss couples (or parents for that matter). Like many other languages, Swiss German offers a wide variety of words and phrases that you can use to address your loved one. Swiss German Terms of Endearment What most of these pet names have in common is the ending "-li" which basically turns the thing or person a word refers to into something small or cute. For example "Haus" means house and "Hüüs li " means small house. Plus, this ending "-li" can also be added to first names as a means of endearment, e.g. Benjamin li , Esther li or Fabienne li . I tried to come up with a colle...

How to Say 'I Love You' in Swiss German

To be completely honest, I'm not very fond of hallmark holidays and Valentine's Day is probably the mothership of them all. In my home there will be no cheesy cards or flowers on that day and, personally, I'm happy about it. However, I know that there are many people who like to celebrate Valentine's Day and take it as an opportunity to show their love and appreciation to their loves. Even in Switzerland, there are plenty of people celebrating it nowadays. If you're short on ideas for this years Valentine's Day in Switzerland you might find some inspiration here: Valentine's Day in Switzerland . If you're already set and have the perfect date ready, how about surprising your loved one with a few romantic Swiss German phrases? You should know that the expression "I love you" has only recently made its way into Swiss German from the High German "Ich liebe dich". Swiss people used to simply say "I like you" or "I like ...

How to Spot a Swiss Person

"You're not from here, right?!" These were the words the saleslady of a small clothes store on a busy Tel Aviv street directed at me a few years ago. I was surprised she had spotted my foreignness so easily. After having lived in Israel for a few years and mastered the local Hebrew, I thought I was able to blend in quite well by then. So, I asked her how she knew. She replied with a smile and said: "You nicely folded the clothes you tried on before bringing them back out!" Oh that! Something I assumed was 'normal' but, apparently, the locals didn't do that. My Swiss background gave me away.  A Stereotypical (Swiss) Person As an expat I can usually spot fellow expats right away even if at first they seem to fit right in. Be they Swiss people I encounter abroad or foreigners living in Switzerland. Mostly, I catch a word or a phrase in a foreign language or see clothes or other items that are clearly not local. Here in South America it's very easy t...