section_path: Long-standing customs/United Kingdom
section_name: United Kingdom
paragraph_text: United Kingdom
  
  In the UK, an April Fool prank is sometimes later revealed by shouting "April fool!" at the recipient, who becomes the "April fool". A study in the 1950s, by folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, found that in the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, this continues to be the practice, with the custom ceasing at noon, after which time it is no longer acceptable to play pranks. Thus a person playing a prank after midday is considered the "April fool" themselves.
  
  In Scotland, April Fools' Day was originally called " Huntigowk Day ". The name is a corruption of "hunt the gowk ", gowk being Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person; alternative terms in Gaelic would be Là na Gocaireachd, "gowking day", or Là Ruith na Cuthaige, "the day of running the cuckoo". The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message that supposedly requests help of some sort. In fact, the message reads " Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile. " The recipient, upon reading it, will explain they can only help if they first contact another person, and they send the victim to this next person with an identical message, with the same result.
  
  In England a "fool" is known by a few different names around the country, including "noodle", "gob", "gobby", or "noddy".
  
  In the UK, an April Fool prank is sometimes later revealed by shouting "April fool!" at the recipient, who becomes the "April fool". A study in the 1950s, by folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, found that in the UK, and in countries whose traditions derived from the UK, this continues to be the practice, with the custom ceasing at noon, after which time it is no longer acceptable to play pranks. Thus a person playing a prank after midday is considered the "April fool" themselves.
  
  In Scotland, April Fools' Day was originally called " Huntigowk Day ". The name is a corruption of "hunt the gowk ", gowk being Scots for a cuckoo or a foolish person; alternative terms in Gaelic would be Là na Gocaireachd, "gowking day", or Là Ruith na Cuthaige, "the day of running the cuckoo". The traditional prank is to ask someone to deliver a sealed message that supposedly requests help of some sort. In fact, the message reads " Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile. " The recipient, upon reading it, will explain they can only help if they first contact another person, and they send the victim to this next person with an identical message, with the same result.
  
  In England a "fool" is known by a few different names around the country, including "noodle", "gob", "gobby", or "noddy".