Generally, I think I have a good
sense of humor, but it is definitely not of the practical joke variety! Hardly
surprising. If you go by Wikipedia's definition, practical jokes are everything
I abhor: " A mischievous trick or
joke played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience
embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort."
And why would I want to do that??
Need I say that I have never taken
advantage of April Fool's Day, though I always tried to stay aware of the date
as I proceeded cautiously through the day.
Researching this topic a little on
the Web, I was surprised to find that the terms "hoax" and
"practical joke" seem to be used interchangeably. I have always
tended to think of a practical joke being perpetrated on an individual, for the
amusement of those creating the situation, secretly watching from some
hide-y-hole close by: a sign pinned to someone's back, or the back of an office
chair, or cars parked within an inch on either side of the victim's car, so
there is no way he or she can get into it. I have observed this one in the days
before cellphones when of course the car owner was forced to go back into the
building to phone, or simply wait, at which time the jokesters hastily remove
their cars. Why is that funny? I simply do not get it.
And now I think more about it, I
guess a hoax really is very much the same thing. Fake artifacts or photographs,
false media announcements, causing people to be elated or fearful depending on
the content, and later let down or relieved when they realize it was untrue.
Sorry, this is as unamusing to me as that rubber spider in the bed, or fake
vomit in the car; which should, as I see it, cease to be funny about the time
one goes to kindergarden.
And I'm sorry to make it into a
Battle of the Sexes thing, but I really believe, based on personal experience
and documented examples, pranks and hoaxes are much more favored by males than
females. Maybe it's some kind of power thing. Not so much over women but men
over other men. When I worked in manufacturing, back when we had such a thing
in the good old U.S.A., practical jokes were a permanent part of the culture.
Sometimes women were targeted, but
not often. I think the fact that most women simply tut-tutted and shook their
heads sadly as they washed their hands in trick soap which blackened the skin,
or discovered that the sandwich in their lunchbox suddenly contained plastic
cheese, rather disappointed the onlookers and so took them out of the game.
With the men it became a competitive one-upmanship. Ok you got me good, but
you wait. Mine'll be better. That kind of practical joking, not involving
the unwilling or unsuspecting, doesn't bother me. All's fair between consulting
adults - in this case using the term adult rather loosely.
In fact, bemused. All this silliness, and I see it more as
unkindness, to say the least, is apparently nothing new. There are documented
examples from the Middle Ages on, and, I'm sure, many many unrecorded pranks
before and since. The latest version would, I suppose, be computer viruses,
which I doubt most of us find very amusing.
I do have, however, my own evince
of past pranks. The house my grandparents lived in had at one time in the 1800s
been a pub. Digging in the garden, my father unearthed an old earthenware
tankard, remarkably undamaged. Inside it, emerging up the side, is a big brown
frog. Apparently, the publican would pick the right stage of inebriation of one
of his customers, and serve his next pint of ale in this mug. The poor guy
probably thought he was suffering from DT's when the frog started to surface
from his beer. 
I have to wonder if it was the
wisest stunt to pull on an obviously good customer, but then, some people will
pay quite a price to get a good laugh at someone else's expense.
At one time I managed the
graveyard shift of a plastics production shop. There were about 30 plastic
presses and 35 to 40 miscellaneous employees. More than half the workers were
temporary, "ninety-day wonders" as they were sometimes referred to by
permanent employees, disparagingly but not meaning any harm. This was in the
early 'seventies and at that time this country had floods of refugees from
Vietnam looking four work. Many of our temporary vacancies were filled by these
quiet, hard-working people who never caused trouble and were, in fact, dream
employees. New to this country, speaking very little English, and heads filled
with who knows what horrific memories, they were, understandably, a bit jumpy.
I had always turned a blind eye to a few little pranks, as long as they was not
too disruptive. It's hard to stay awake all night doing repetitive, boring,
tasks, and if a few practical jokes gave them a little added adrenaline then so
much the better. But then it spread to pranks pulled on the Vietnamese; nothing
serious or really mean, but these poor people were completely confused by it, a
little scared, and above all, I think, completely bemused. Why were these
things happening to them? Why was someone doing such things? I was forced to
put an immediate halt to it all, and if,
occasionally I saw it happening again, I once again managed not to see it
unless it involved any of the poor bemused Vietnamese.
©
15 Aug 2014
About the Author
I
was born and raised in England. After graduation from college there, I moved to
the U.S. and, having discovered Colorado, never left. I have lived in the
Denver-Boulder area since 1965, working for 30 years at IBM. I married, raised
four stepchildren, then got divorced after finally, in my forties, accepting
myself as a lesbian. I have now been with my wonderful partner Betsy for 25
years.
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