April Fools Day pranks (2019 edition)

Last week saw another April Fools Day come and go, so as has become something of a tradition on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog, this week's blog post features a round-up of various April Fools Day pranks from various companies, people and organisations.

However, to test your powers at detecting prankery, one of the following 'pranks' is actually real and not a prank at all! It should be fairy obvious, but if you can't work it out, the answer is revealed at the bottom of today's blog post...

1) McDonalds Pickle Burger

I'm Gherkin It

Personally, I find the gherkins in Big Macs absolutely disgusting, but apparently there are some people who love them, so they must have been really excited when McDonalds Australia posted the following announcement on their instagram page:

"Pickle lovers, it’s the news you’ve all been waiting for. We’re super stoked* to announce the launch of our brand new McPickle Burger. It’s time to tuck into juicy, flavoursome pickles layered between melted cheese, ketchup sauce and toasted sesame seed buns. It’s sure to be a treat for all your senses."

* 'Stoked' is an Australian word for excited.

The announcement was accompanied by an image of a Big Mac style burger filled with gherkins instead of burgers!

However, gherkin lovers hopes were dashed when they discovered that sadly for them, it was an April McFool!

The Idiot Awards! (part 2)

A few months ago, the Charles Fudgemuffin blog recognised excellence in the field of idiocy with the Idiots Awards. However, there are many more idiots worthy of recognition, so here's another batch of 'winners'...

1) Choose your age

In perhaps the craziest news story of the decade, a 69 year old wanted to legally change his age to 49 because he identifies as a 49 year old.

Seriously, the world has gone mad. If we can now choose what we want to identify as, then I would like to identify as a millionaire, so presumably my bank will now let me withdraw loads of money from my account?

Thankfully, common sense prevailed and he lost his case, but the fact that this was even a thing is a sad reflection on the level of lunacy in the world nowadays.

Stupid questions (part 4)

This week's collection of stupid questions has a library theme to it...

This week it's time for one of my favourite themes as the Charles Fudgemuffin blog once again takes a look at a selection of stupid questions.

As with part 3, all of the following questions were asked at the library...

1) Written by ... ?

A general question which one librarian got asked a lot was...

"I'm looking for the autobiography of ______, but I'm not sure who wrote it."

Hmm, now who would an autobiography be written by?

Modern Japanese words

If you've ever considered learning Japanese then you may be surprised to discover that many Japanese 'import' words sound very similar to their English equivalents.

Orenji ju-su!
(Orange juice.)

To give you an example, a mate of mine once heard that the Japanese word for orange juice was 'orenji ju-su', and at first he thought it was just a joke.

However, in actual fact you'll find that many Japanese words sound very similar to their English equivalents. This isn't the technical explanation, but to give a light-hearted explanation, you basically add a Japanese accent and that's pretty much it.

I've collected a few of my favourites below, and if you're naturally distrusting then you may think I've made some of these up, but I promise you these are all actual real Japanese words...

How to write good.

Previously on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I've written about how to write a helpful review and also how not to write a helpful review.

A bad workman blames his tools.

This week's blog post is also on the theme of writing, but in a more general sense, as a selection of tips are offered for any budding authors on 'how to write good'...

1) Always proofread your work to ensure you don't any words out.

2) Never overuse exclamation marks!!!!!

3) Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

4) Be careful not to make speling misteaks.

Random thoughts (part 7)

It's time for another collection of random thoughts about random subjects such as breathing, early birds, and advertising...

This dog obviously has its sense of self-importance just right.

1) Laughter is the cure

If you lose one sense, your other senses become enhanced. That's why people with no sense of humour have an increased sense of self-importance.

2) Road rage

When two people are walking and almost bump into each other, they both apologise and immediately take all the blame. When two people are driving and almost bump into each other, they both immediately get angry out and totally blame the other person.

Top tips (part 2)

Here's another batch of light-hearted top tips covering a variety of subjects such as coconuts, teenagers and wigs...

"Wow, he won a coconut!
He must be really good at throwing things!"

1) Impressionists. Perfect your Hugh Grant impression by counting up to three in Roman numerals.


2) Convince people you're good at throwing things by walking around a fairground holding a coconut.


3) Parents. Prepare your children for Game of Thrones by ending every Mr Men book with 'and then he dies'.