Poisson D'Avril!

[zrath]

I'm moving back to France!
Bush is a jerk and the people here suck and I'm getting a sweet job at Ubi-Soft!
So long suckers! It's been real and it's been fun, but it's not been real fun!
I'm having a garage sale tomorrow and all my crap must go!
It's from 6am to 9pm, at the corner of Calvin and Hobbes, in Compton, CA.
Be there and pack some heat!



Right...
With that out of the way, let's talk about "poisson d'avril".
It is the French word for "april fool's" and it means "april fish".
As to why "fish", there are several theories.
One of them mentions that April 1st is the end of Lent, and fish usually replaces meat.
Another mentions that the Moon is exiting pisces around April 1st (or something, I'm no astrologist).

But the fact is that the tradition dates back to 1564, when French King Charles IX changed the calendar
so that the New Year fell on January 1st, instead of March 25th or April 1st.
People exchanged gifts on the New Year and some continued to do so on the New New Year (aka April 1st).
And since it was Lent, it's possible that some of those gifts were fish.

So there you go.

Boy, it's hot out here in L.A....