April Fools’ Day is a time when trickery gets permission. Our language is full of words and idioms that relate to mischief and playfulness, which are so familiar that we might not consider their origin. Here are some back stories – no fooling.
1. Prank
This comes from the Middle Dutch pronken, meaning to strut or show off. So from there, it was a linguistic leap to making a show of something, i.e. a flashy act to get a reaction.
2. Pull the wool over your eyes
In the 17th to 19th centuries, many men (including but not limited to legal professionals) wore powdered wigs made from wool. The literal or metaphorical idea of pulling the wool over their eyes, to obscure their vision, came to mean deceit.
3. Pulling your leg
Now the phrase means teasing or joking with someone. There are debates about where it comes from. One theory is that in the 18th and 19th centuries, street thieves in London would trip victims by pulling their legs, making it easier to rob them.
4. Bamboozle
With a meaning of “to confuse or swindle”, bamboozle was early 1700s slang. Some believe it derived from the Scottish slang bumbaze (“to perplex”) or the French embabouiner (“to make a fool of”). But it caught on after Irish satirist Jonathan Swift highlighted it as an example of invented “low language”.
5. Jester and jest
During medieval times, the entertainers who performed for the courts of kings were known as jesters. The word was originally gestour, meaning “a minstrel or teller of tales”, from the Anglo-Latin gesten for “recite a tale”. Essentially, the jesters were storytellers who exaggerated for humour. From that, we get things said and done in jest.
6. Tomfoolery
Speaking of jesters, back in the 14th century there was one identified in records as Thome Fole. What’s uncertain is whether that was his given name or a generic one for the job. Either way, the name transformed into tomfool to describe someone silly and, later, tomfoolery to describe such behaviour.
7. Hoax
Going back to the 1600s, magicians and jugglers often used the faux Latin phrase hocus pocus when they did their tricks. Many performers also took on the phrase as their stage name. Hoax evolved as a contraction of hocus.
8. Fool
Finally, fool. It stems from the Old French fol for “madman or idiot”, from the Latin follis for “bellows or leather bag” – someone who was seen as a windbag or empty-headed.
So here’s to the pranksters, jesters and fools. I have a soft spot for them. They’re the ones who remind us not to take things, or ourselves, too seriously.
Stuart Foxman is a Toronto-based freelance writer, who helps clients’ products, services, ideas and organizations to come alive. Connect with me here on LinkedIn, or check me out at foxmancommunications.com where I share these blogs too. More original posts coming regularly about communications, information, motivation, writing, branding, creativity, media, marketing, persuasion, messages, learning, etc.
April 1, 2026