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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>A take on medieval humor….<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi612.htm">http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi612.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Aside from “The Miller’s Tale”, I know
little about what made the medieval person laugh. But I’m sure they
did so and probably for the same reasons we do. (….and, if you have
never read “The Miller’s Tale”, you should, I promise, you
will fall out of your chair in the end…) <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Take a listen,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dsd<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The following is lifted from Wikipedia about April
Fool’s Day:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The origins of April Fool's Day are unknown, although
various theories have been proposed. It is considered to be related to the
festival of the vernal equinox, which occurs on March 21. Prior to the adoption
of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, it was observed as New Year's Day by
cultures as far apart as ancient <st1:City w:st="on">Rome</st1:City> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. New Year
was originally celebrated from March 25 to April 1, before the Gregorian
reforms moved it back to January 1. The English first celebrated the day on a
widespread basis only as late as the 18th century, though it appears to have
reached <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> probably
from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>
in the mid-17th century. Its first known description in English originates with
John Aubrey, who noted in 1686: "Fooles holy day. We observe it on the
first of April. And so it is kept in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region> everywhere."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Some Dutch people believe it may have originated due to the
liberation of Den Briel during the Spanish occupation of The Netherlands in
1572, when the geuzen fooled the Spanish lord Alva and were thus able to liberate
Den Briel, and the latter supposedly lost his glasses.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The custom of playing practical jokes on April Fool's Day is
also very widespread and of uncertain origins. The victim of a joke is known in
English as an ''April Fool''; in Scots language as a ''gowk'' (cuckoo or fool);
and an "April Fish" in both French (''poisson d'avril'') and
Italian (Pesce d'Aprile). It has been suggested the custom may have had
something to do with the move of the New Year's date, when people who forgot or
didn't accept the new date system were given invitations to nonexistent
parties, funny gifts, etc. Originally, April Fool's Day jokes concentrated on
individuals (sending someone on an absurd errand such as seeking pigeon's milk)
but in the 20th century it became common for the media to perpetrate hoaxes on
the general population.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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