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April Fool's Day
Fooled you!
One of the first official tartans designed as a "joke," this tartan textile prank is worthy of April Fool's Day, a day celebrated in some form since the middle ages. "MacHinery" is in fact a spelling variant of 'machinery' and although origin stories for this modern tartan vary, it is believed to have been designed by tartan insiders as a joke for one of their own. Of course, if you have a particular aptitude for all things mechanical, you may be able to convince someone today that Clan Hinery is part of your ancestral line. In Scotland, April Fool's Day is traditionally called as "Hunt-the-Gowk Day" ('gowk' meaning a cuckoo or a foolish person). Even better for pranksters, one can indulge in japes and pranks for two whole days, though April 2nd! This second day has traditionally been reserved for surreptitiously attaching tails to the backs of unsuspecting people, leading to its name, Tailie Day! Watch your back! #winkwinknodnod #hunthegowk🃏
April Fool's Day has been celebrated for centuries, first recorded in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1392) which contains the first documented association between April 1st and foolishness.
According to the official register: Jamie Scarlett MBE claims that Dr. Micheil MacDonald thought this one up as a joke. Other notes say it was designed by Jack Dalgety as a joke on Bill Johnston of the US.
"MacHinery" is in fact a spelling variant of 'machinery'.
The custom of setting aside a day for the playing of harmless pranks upon one's neighbor is recognized everywhere.
In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences. In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour. In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.
For a list of the top 100 April Fool's hoaxes of all time, click the laughing smiley faces!