Banter Bites

Best. Pranks. Ever.

What do the Liberty Bell, spaghetti, and April Fools' Day have in common?

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Even if you don't "celebrate" April Fools' Day, hopefully, you're careful not to be taken in … yet, for some reason, Red's always on "high alert" when it comes to her sister, Black.

When Red thinks of pranks, she thinks of teasing someone or trying to "fool" them in some minor way, nothing elaborate or serious. More the kind of harmless, juvenile pranks that kids might do to each other.

She never really thought that a prank could require significant planning until Black suggested it could, so decided to do a little digging and discovered some incredibly complex, but also amusing and very clever pranks, or rather, as the article called them, the 15 best April Fools' Day hoaxes. Even though it was from 2012, many of them could still happen today, and Red struggled with whether her favorite was the one about the Liberty Bell or the spaghetti story (it's hard to imagine the BBC pranking people).

Red could only imagine the pranks Black might have played but when questioned whether she'd confess to any, Black told her about this week's Volkswagen prank that didn't go well, and then gave her a history lesson instead.

Did you know back in the days of the Roman Empire and the Julian Calendar (named after Julius Caesar), the New Year used to start around April 1,and it was centuries before it was changed to January 1? Well, many people did not "get the news" and continued to celebrate on the original date, and people who considered themselves "in the know" made fun of those people and referred to them as April Fools.

Well, that explanation made sense to Red. But the more she thought about it, the more she began to question whether Black was playing a simple prank on her, so had to check out the history of April Fools' Day.

No matter what holiday you may celebrate, Red can’t help but quote a line from one of her favorite Christmas songs, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light. From now on, your troubles will be out of sight.”

And Black can’t help but point out that the song wasn’t introduced in a Christmas movie but in the movie "Meet Me In St. Louis."

Wishing you a merry everything and a happy always!

This is one of Red’s favorite Banter Bites in large part because of Black’s “corny” puns, but also because fresh corn is a summer staple – whether cooked on the grill or in the microwave, whether eaten on its own or as a primary ingredient in refreshing summer salads


This may be one of the corniest things you’ll ever read.

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: It’s just a vegetable, so how can it possibly elicit such a strong reaction from Red, while, for Black, it’s more a source of amusement and even, it turns out, admiration?

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Think you can avoid artificial intelligence? Think again …

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Red already fights technology at every turn, preferring to keep her ostrich head in the sand, plus, she finds Artificial Intelligence (AI) scary; whereas Black knows ignoring reality merely postpones the inevitable, so she’s started playing with AI to understand it better …

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