The first of every April gives the prankster in all of us a chance to shine. Those of us who may have been much to chicken to prank any other day of the year, now have the excuse to prank as many people as we please.

While not recognized as a national holiday, April Fools’ Day is widely celebrated throughout the nation. While April Fools’ is popular amongst us in the United States, the unofficial jokester’s holiday is celebrated in other countries such as the U.K., France and Italy.

In the U.K., much as it is in the U.S., after jokes have been played, the prank is revealed by the prankster’s triumphant shouts of “April Fools!” Some countries on the other hand, such as France and Italy, tape a paper fish to someone’s back using stealth, and then shout out “poisson d’avril” in French, and “pesce d’aprile” in Italian. The jovial phrases translate to April’s fish.

With a widespread history, April Fools’ Day has its own special meaning to the Decaturian. In the Apr. 2, 1948 edition, the Decaturian ran their April Fools issue of the school paper. The paper advertised their issue as the April Fool edition by the header of the paper.

At first it’s hard to recognize what was supposed to be fooling readers but that’s when it was spotted. The newspaper amongst some of their headlines had completely flipped headlines 180 degrees in places. These story headlines read as “Hubba-Hubba Bub, ‘Walt’s Place’ Pub Club Dubbed,” which was a story about a pub being opened in Springfield by the University’s current president of the time. The club boasts a free burlesque show and free admittance for one week to any Millikin student presenting their “activity pass.”

Another story ran front page entitled, “JMU Students Mac Honors,” this story boasted the student body’s win over other college campuses in three categories. The first being James Millikin University’s student body’s ability to consume more beer than any other student body, “thus reducing the available supply and preventing others from becoming alcoholics.” The second category, “they have ignored controversial issues in matters political, educational, and sociological, concentrating on social affairs thus avoiding arguments and helping maintain peace in the world.” And lastly, “The have consistently taken a strong stand against high scholastic standards thus keeping the average down and preventing many poor students from becoming discouraged and quitting school.” The article goes on to state that the award will be given out at award day. And then in all caps at the end of piece, “APRIL FOOL.”

Another story in the issue chronicles the arrest of a Millikin professor. The article states Bonnie Blackburn was arrested during a pool hall raid, and was caught running a cockfighting ring out of the back of the establishment. The story reports that tickets were sold for the event during “Easter vacation,” and they found “iron spurs and other cruel instruments which were fastened on to the roosters to make the fights more ferocious.”

Whether you are taping a paper fish to your buddy’s back, jumping out from behind a corner or taking all of the screws out of their desk chair, just remember not to take it to far, and of course prepare for retaliation.