01 April 2010

Morning Vent, 1 April 2010 (April Fool's)

Her name isn't April...

    Due to the horrid Blizzard of 2010, we missed out last month on the usual reverie about the meaning of month name "March". We'll try to make up for it with April.
    As noted in the Wiki link, the word April is thought to derive from the Latin word aperire, meaning to open. The name reflects the opening of plant buds and flowers during the Spring.
    Today, April is most known for April Fool's, which we mark today, the 1st of April. Like many other traditional holidays and days of note, April Fool's has an uncertain parentage. The Wiki article relates that, since in pre-Christian times Summer and planting season traditionally started on the 1st of May (May Day), a witless farmer who risked his crop by planting early may have been the original April Fool.
    Today, April Fool's is celebrated by sharing humorous and harmless pranks which prey on the gullibility of the victim. The custom has no official government backing in the US; there is no April Fool's Day holiday. Except, of course, in government every day is April Fool's Day. The pranks of the government Fools are sometimes humorous, but they are rarely harmless. And, of course, it is our wallets which fall prey to their shenanigans. Ironically, the bill for their April Fool's Day pranks comes due a scant two weeks after the 1st of April: 15 April, Income Tax Day.

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