Fishwrap d'avril

[q_pheevr]

It is an ancient and noble tradition, among certain newspapers, to mark the first day of April by sneaking a fanciful work of fiction into their otherwise reliable pages. One of my favourite examples of the genre is the Guardian's classic 1977 article on the island nation of San Seriffe (comprising the islands of Upper and Lower Caisse, and ruled

Comments

[chillyrodent]

WHAT.

Oh, you. You did a meta-spoof of your own.

[q_pheevr]

Actually, it was your latest post that gave me the idea.

[trochee]

... you got me.

I wanted this to be true.

[q_pheevr]

Hee hee!

If The Onion did real news stories for a day, it would be a great April Fool's joke. If Fox News did real news stories for a day, it would be a sign of the Apocalypse.

[tahnan]

Me too, me too.

[tahnan]

...and I only just noticed the icon. Darnit.

[caprinus]

OK, I totally fell for it. BRILLIANT!

[q_pheevr]

Thanks!

[thnidu]

Touché!

Skullturf Q. Beavispants

[anonymous]

Did you happen to visit Wikipedia on April 1st, and read their news items for that day? At first glance, it appeared as though they had made up several amusing fictitious news items. But a closer examination revealed that they were in fact real news items, but just described in slightly misleading or creative language to make them seem stranger than they were.

For instance, one story said that following the recent economic turmoil, the Prime Minister of Ireland was seen naked in public. What they were actually referring to was an art exhibit where a painting included an artist's rendition of the prime minister nude.

Re: Skullturf Q. Beavispants

[q_pheevr]

I didn't see that. It sounds like a clever way for a Web site dedicated to facts to fool people into thinking they're being fooled.