Here are some simple, but brilliant, April Fools' Day pranks to pull on your friends
Here are 17 of the best responses.
April 1 is April Fools' Day.
Nobody really knows why we celebrate April Fools' Day on the first day of April. Some people believe that it goes back all the way to the Roman Empire when they celebrated Hilaria, a festival of merriment where people dressed up in disguise.
Others say that it began in 1583 in France when the country switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent. Folks who were slow on the uptake and didn’t realize that the calendar had moved to January 1 became the butt of jokes and pranks.
Regardless, this is your reminder that on April 1, 2022, you should be prepared to prank some people or at least be aware that it’s April Fools' Day so you can avoid being the victim of someone else’s tomfoolery.
A Reddit user who goes by the name Never--Mind asked the online forum to share their favorite April Fools' Day pranks and they got a ton of great responses. “Since April Fools day is fast approaching, what have been some of your best April Fool pranks?” they asked.
The great thing is that most of them are really easy to pull off. When it comes to pranks, simple is usually best. Simple pranks are harder to detect and easier to accomplish without getting caught.
Here are 17 of the best responses to the r/AskReddit question.
1.
"There are 4 doors to our building and my co-worker put a sign on each one that says 'Door broken use other door' with an arrow pointing left." — Proud Turtle.
2.
"Piece of opaque tape over the laser on everyone's mouse. IT was pretty pissed, I need to take that one to the grave with me." — [deleted]
3.
"I work in Sales, and it seems like we always have a new guy around April. I like to write down on a post-it 'Please follow up with Mr. Baer at...' and then the number for the San Francisco zoo." — mismistu
4.
"Here's mine for this year. I hope it works. I recently purchased an espresso machine that leaves me with little hard pucks of compressed coffee grounds. I intend on covering them in frosting and leaving them on the break room table at work. Muhaha." — FuzzyManPeach
5.
"A greek radio station once said on the news that Greece would quit the euro and go back to their old currency (this was before the whole economy crisis there). The Greek stock market had a crazy and troubled morning until they finally got that it was only an April Fools Joke." — isablaubear
6.
"High school summer, my friend had a habit of getting up at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I dropped by his place and his mom informed me that he was still sleeping and I should go wake him up. He's a really heavy sleeper so I decided to have a little fun. I moved his cell phone into the center of the floor, about 4 feet from his bed. I crawled under the bed and gave him a call. No response. Called again and I finally heard movement. Hand comes down, can't quite reach the phone. Foot comes down, another foot. He's got the phone sitting down on the edge of the bed.
A very groggy, '..hey, what's up man.. what are you up to?'
I pull off the best freddy kreuger voice I can muster, and yell out, "I'M UNDER THE BED" and grab his ankles with a vice grip. He jumps halfway across the room, nearly faceplants since I have his feet. He kicks my hands away and half scamper/crawls across the room until he realizes what happened. There was lots of swearing, he didn't think it was as funny as I did." — JMace
7.
"I'm a female kindergarten teacher. I wore a mustache all day long and pretended it wasn't there...even with the parents. Everyone got a kick out of it except for one student who cried because 'I looked scary.'" — HotTamalesYum
8.
"One April 1st I got up before my wife. I went to the kitchen to get some water. I opened the curtains to see that our neighbour's house, across the lane, was on fire. I ran to the bedroom and told my wife. She opened one eye and said, "Sure, sure. Ha ha." She got up seconds later when she could hear the fire trucks. Every April 1st, as a joke, I tell her the same thing." — windy496
9.
"It wasn't mine, but it was my mother's. I was six years old and one day she gave my daily cereal, which was cheerios, in milk. But today it was different. The milk was a teal blue, and luckily my six-year-old self seemed to notice. I asked 'Mommy what's wrong with the milk?' She said 'oh nothing a blue cow just made it.' And I was more excited than terrified and ate it all up. I told all the kids at school I ate a blue cow's milk and they were all jealous as fuuuuuck. it wasn't until later I realized it was dyed, and I felt like a fraud for telling all my friends I ate a blue cow." — randomfactgirl
10.
"Last year I posted on Craigslist under the personals section, listing wfm. Googled "selfie" and found some hot girl and used that on the post. Pretended I had just moved to town, and was looking for a good time around town, and someone who knew how to show a girl a good time. I posted my friend Victor's cell number and said the girl's name was Victoria and went by Vic. I specified at the end of the post that 'I'm kinda picky though, so send me a pic if you think you've got the goods, and you may get one back ;)'
Anyway, this was 1 am on 4/1. By 3 am his girlfriend was waking him up saying "someone's blowing up your phone" Vic -"hand it to me." She picks it up, only to see a dick pick that says "hey Vic, here's mine, send me yours." Oh and over 50 more dick shots. By the time he came into work his phone had died twice, and he had over 500 dic pictures sent to him. I deleted the post, told him it was me and we had a good laugh. Still, one of my favorite stories to tell, though I still work with him and I'm scared for this year." — SopwithStrutter
11.
"I replaced a picture of one of my friend's family members with a black and white picture of Boris Johnson." — RugbyTime
12.
"In 3rd grade, the teacher walks into the room with a pissed look. She says the tests from yesterday were horrible and starts telling everyone's super-low grades out loud. She goes on to give us all a piece of paper, saying we are having another test right now. She then proceeds to write the instructions on the board: April's Fool. Super scary moment for me. A girl cried." — Shroomsters
13.
"At the office, fill a bowl with trail mix, but remove all M&M's and replace with Skittles." — cgrant993
14.
"Not necessarily done on April's fool, more like random days throughout the year. One day for uni we went on a bus trip to go check out the cadavers at another uni. Our lecturer was going to meet us down there, so I took this opportunity to buy him a singing Disney Princess birthday card, I got everyone on the bus to sign it and told them all it was his birthday, which of course it wasn't but no one clicked that I was joking, I mean I had been in class with these people for 2 years and if they hadn't figured out I was a smartass, they're not fit and observant enough to be doctors. So I had convinced the class to sing him happy birthday once we got off the bus, which has started a new tradition. Randomly over time with we'd try top that. I once bought him a cake, streamers, banner, hats and party blowers and got my whole year level to barge into one of his classes and sing happy birthday. Everytime he posts a serious post on the Facebook Page for new students, I always post 'happy birthday scott.'" — scottydoeskno
15.
"A few years ago I bought 200 packets of mayonnaise and hid them all over my boyfriend at the time's room. I tucked them in the pockets of all his clothes, in his board games, behind his wall art- anywhere you could think of there was mayonnaise. He was still finding mayo a couple years later." — AimeeSaysGrowl
16.
"When I was fourteen I came inside and found my parents sitting solemn and serious in the living room. They had me sit down and told me that I was adopted. I was devastated to hear such a thing, and my dad told me how my birth parents had to send me to the United States because it was practically the end of the world for them. They couldn't get away, and so i was smuggled into the US and adopted. Now the time had come for me to know the truth, to inherit the items my birth parents had sent with me, to begin my journey to learn who I really was, and to take on my destiny. . . As the last son of Krypton." — [Deleted]
17.
"I told my friend I was pregnant as a prank and he offered to marry me and raise the baby together...it didn't feel like a prank anymore." — TheSilverLinings
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."