Practical joke
A practical joke or prank is a situation set up to produce what the perpetrator imagines to be a humorous physical outcome at the expense of the target. As the set-up or deception is revealed (too late) to the victim, practical jokes are distinct from slapstick or knockabout, where the goal is to make physical events appear miscalculated, inept or accidental. The term practical refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something (a 'practise'), rather than the common sense of the word ('useful or sensible').
Types of practical joke include:
- false signalling, such a 'kick me' note stuck on someone's back, an 'automatic door' sign on a normal swinging door, or dropping an empty carton on someone's foot after pretending it is heavy;
- removing someone's clothing so that it exposes a private body part or their undergarments, particularly in public
- surprise disruption, employing (for example) trip-wires, whoopee cushions, peanut butter on the inside of a car door-handle, or a three legged podium for a public speaker;
- visual deception, such as water-filled balloons, plastic wrap on a toilet seat, 'apple-pie beds' which have had the top blanket artfully folded back so the victim cannot get all the way in, loosening the tops of salt shakes so when they pour the salt it all comes out, fake flowers in the lapel which squirt water, rubber fruit and guns which unfurl a flag saying 'bang';
- fool's errands such as sending someone to buy striped paint or read-only CD blanks (see also: snipe hunt);
- hoax stories or situations perpetrated on or by the media such as fabricated UFO landings and fake celebrity interviews involving rude or ludicrous questions (see also: culture jamming);
- spontaneous impersonations, such as taking an order for takeaway food from someone who has actually dialed a wrong number;
- verbal and typographical pranks, such as printing a block of text so that the first letters of every line spell out an irreverent message (see also Acrostic), or teaching someone a useful phrase in another language which is actually an insult.
Practical jokes are features of various kinds of holidays, such as April Fool's Day, Halloween, the Day of the Holy Innocents (in Spanish-speaking cultures). They also feature in various rites of passage, such as stag nights.
The Trapezium of Xenophanes was cited by Aristotle as a notable compendium of practical jokes, but only a few fragments of this work have survived.
See also
- Prank
- Merry Pranksters
- Hack (MIT student pranks)
- List of school pranks
- Category:Practical jokes
- Related television shows:
- Prank websites:
