# Whatever happened to April Fool's Day on the SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079 "2014-04-01T14:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079/21 "2014-04-03T07:25:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is there something going on that I’m missing? I see no modified moderator names or titles, no temporary added forums or changed forums-nothing different at all. Now that it’s a day or two past April Fool’s Day, the truth can be told. There was indeed either something or nothing going on, and you, **Czarcasm,** walked right into it. This was best explained by Raymond Smullyan in the opening paragraphs of his book [_What Is The Name Of This Book?_](http://control7.net/downloads/What-is-the-Name-of-this-Book.pdf) (this link gets you a PDF of the full text of the book). Smullyan here tells of the day he fell for the same prank you just fell for: > [@Raymond Smullyan in What Is The Name Of This Book?](#): > > 1. Was I Fooled? > > My introduction to logic was at the age of six. It happened this way: On April 1, 1925, I was sick in bed with grippe, or flu, or something. In the morning my brother Emile (ten years my senior) came into my bedroom and said: “Well, Raymond, today is April Fool’s Day, and I will fool you as you have never been fooled before!” I waited all day long for him to fool me, but he didn’t. Late that night, my mother asked me, “Why don’t you go to sleep?” I replied, “I’m waiting for Emile to fool me.” My mother turned to Emile and said, “Emile, will you please fool the child!” Emile then turned to me, and the following dialogue ensued: > > _Emile_ / So, you expected me to fool you, didn’t you? > _Raymond_ / Yes. > _Emile_ / But I didn’t, did I? > _Raymond_ / No. > _Emile_ / But you expected me to, didn’t you? > _Raymond_ / Yes. > _Emile_ / So I fooled you, didn’t I! > > Well, I recall lying in bed long after the lights were turned out wondering whether or not I had really been fooled. On the one hand, if I wasn’t fooled, then I did not get what I expected, hence I was fooled. (This was Emile’ s argument.) But with equal reason it can be said that if I was fooled, then I did get what I expected, so then, in what sense was I fooled. So, was I fooled or wasn’t I? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079/22 "2014-04-03T18:16:32Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Now that it’s a day or two past April Fool’s Day, the truth can be told. There was indeed either something or nothing going on, and you, **Czarcasm,** walked right into it. > > This was best explained by Raymond Smullyan in the opening paragraphs of his book [_What Is The Name Of This Book?_](http://control7.net/downloads/What-is-the-Name-of-this-Book.pdf) (this link gets you a PDF of the full text of the book). Smullyan here tells of the day he fell for the same prank you just fell for: Mind. Blown… ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079/23 "2014-04-04T20:10:23Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Now that it’s a day or two past April Fool’s Day, the truth can be told. There was indeed either something or nothing going on, and you, **Czarcasm,** walked right into it. > > This was best explained by Raymond Smullyan in the opening paragraphs of his book [_What Is The Name Of This Book?_](http://control7.net/downloads/What-is-the-Name-of-this-Book.pdf) (this link gets you a PDF of the full text of the book). Smullyan here tells of the day he fell for the same prank you just fell for: I absolutely love this book! I Had a copy growing up, which disappeared somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. I finally ordered myself a replacement off of Amazon a few weeks ago… …so why didn’t you tell me last month that I could download the whole thing for free?!? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079/24 "2014-04-05T02:35:21Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > I absolutely love this book! I Had a copy growing up, which disappeared somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. I finally ordered myself a replacement off of Amazon a few weeks ago… > > …so why didn’t you tell me last month that I could download the whole thing for free?!? You haven’t been paying attention. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16998444&postcount=55](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16998444&postcount=55) (Jan. 8, 2014). [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17185622&postcount=27](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17185622&postcount=27) (March 11, 2014). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-april-fools-day-on-the-sdmb/685079.md?page=1)