Poisson d'Avril

So I know I promised a rather riveting story of my experience with the French grading system, but I've changed my mind. Given that April 1st comes only once a year, I'd rather explain this most playful of holidays French style.

Quite simply, with fish. April Fools Day is called Poisson d'Avril in French which, is to say, Fish of April. I'm not quite certain of its origins, but the modern holiday involves secretly sticking a small paper fish on the backs of unknowing people. It is also a day where one is permitted to say whatever one pleases, n'importe quoi, with a grand "Poisson d'Avril! April Fools!" at the end.

Here is a rather amusing vintage postcard celebrating the first of April:


Today we spent an hour in class discussing 1st of April practices from all of our various countries (America, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, Nigeria, Sweden, and Syria). What started as a rather mellow reportage of our respective cultural jokes ended up in a hilarious slew of French blagues from our professor. While the jokes themselves were amusing enough, it was the near hysterical paralysis they caused in our professor that was the most amusing.

So, you need to know that the French LOVE mocking the Belgians. There are countless number of belge jokes in France (to be fair, I know that the Belgians have a great many French jokes of their own.) But, as I was informed, it is just too easy to mock the rather "slow, naïve" belge (I'm not endorsing any of the mockery--just calling it as I see it.)

And thus in honor of my time spent in France on April Fools, I will impart to you two typical Belgian jokes:

1. Two Belgians were trying to buy a new car. They checked the steering wheel, the doors, the locks, the trunk, and all the other features to ensure that they worked. Finally, the first Belgian told his friend to go outside the car and make sure that the blinker was working properly. He turned on the blinker and the second Belgian cried, "Ça marche, ça ne marche pas, ça marche, ça ne marche pas." Or, "It works, it doesn't work, it works, it doesn't work."

2. A Belgian couple was driving down the interstate in their car when the following announcement came over the radio, "Attention, attention, there is a maniac driving down the wrong side of the interstate. It is necessary that you take caution. Attention!" The man turned to his wife and said, "In fact, they need to say that there are several. Look at how many just passed us!"