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Parisians grew frustrated and mocked these backward bumpkins as Poisson d'Avril, or "April Fish". This led to expressions of sarcasm, then gag gifts, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's still a favorite prank among French kids is to tape a paper fish to the backside of an unsuspecting rube. Fooliganism Spreads to America

England waited until the 18th century to adopt the "Catholic" calendar, and when it did, our Anglo brothers also embraced April Fools' Day. Thus, French fooliganism spread to the American colonies, Scotland and much of the world, faster than the speed of a rubber chicken.

A cultural note: If you're the butt of a British practical joke, you're a "noodle." In Scotland, you're a "gowk," or cuckoo bird.

Now, in Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere, there's a designated day for foolish pleasures. South Korea was forced to step up surveillance operations after its national fire service received some 3,061 hoax calls on April Fools' Day two years ago, according to Agence France-Press.

Even after issuing stern warnings, South Korean officials reported more than 1,500 hoax calls the next April 1, several times the number that's registered on any other day.

April Fools' Day lore is rife worldwide with infamous stunts, some that backfire badly. To name a few:

• In 1989, a riot broke out in Sri Lanka when a local newspaper, as a joke, reported on a bogus numbers game. Some 2,000 angry readers showed up to collect prizes and grew hostile when they were told, "April Fools!"

• In 1957, BBC TV reported "a record spaghetti harvest" in the Italian Alps. In the video, farmers snipped away at bounteous "spaghetti trees" with extra-large scissors. With no hint of humor, the reporter credited the bumper crop to new methods of controlling the ravenous spaghetti weevil. The BBC's switchboard was jammed with hundreds of people seeking to farm spaghetti.

• In 1970, John Lennon and Yoko Ono released a statement saying they were about to undergo side-by-side sex-change operations. The report failed to turn Yoko into a major recording artist, and Lennon died before releasing "Nowhere Woman."