Dubai: An early-morning tweet by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) about the start of unannounced home inspections for students made at least some netizens wonder if the authority would be invading their privacy.
“Due to ongoing distance learning, school inspectors will now begin unannounced visits to family homes. Ratings of each family will be published online to ensure students are receiving adequate support, sleep and chocolate,” the tweet said.
Seemingly concerned, Twitter user Keegan Dsouza posted: “Isnt that an invasion of privacy or something? (sic)”
However, most of the Twitterati, who responded, seemed to be in splits after realising that it was only an April Fool’s Day prank.
“Great. Thanks for the heads up, we’ll transform the house to achieve outstanding!!,” Audrey tweeted with ROFL emojis.
Wedding Service at 40,000 feet
Netizens were also seen falling for an announcement by Emirates airline to host special wedding service on its Airbus A380 on select routes.
“We’re taking love to new heights! Emirates is pleased to launch a special Wedding Service for those who want to tie the knot at 40,000 feet. Plan your perfect day on our @Airbus A380, now available on select routes,” the tweet posted on Wednesday evening said. A dream wedding picture of a couple holding hands on board a decked-up luxury cabin accompanied the tweet.
The ‘Just Married’ board amid the decorations showed the date 01.04.21, giving a hint to the social media followers about the prank.
“I want to get married like this in the future. Arrange it for me @keerthiravi2198 @performsegue, please,” posted Praveen Thirumurugan.
Logan Kugler, whose Twitter profile indicated that he is a writer on tech affairs, went a step ahead and asked for more details.
“Is there a link for more information and pricing about this somewhere? I might want to publish an article about this,” his post read.
Having been familar with Emirates’ history of coming up with different pranks on April Fool’s Day in the previous years, many other followers, however, conveyed how they enjoyed this one too.
“April fools? We can see that 1/4/2021 We are still waiting for ur chauffeur-less drones, triple decker n see thro-lounge. But still the best airlines without all of these (sic),” posted Joe.
Social media accounts of both KHDA and Emirates have been known for sharing tongue-in-cheek posts on numerous occasions. The April Fool’s editions are just the icing on the cake amid the stress and tensions of a COVID-19 pandemic.
April Fool’s Day is an annual custom of throwing practical pranks and spreading harmless hoaxes on April 1. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may be revealed later in the day or the following day.
One origin of the day is attributed to France shifting from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. After the switch, citizens who failed to recognise the change of New Year to January 1 and kept celebrating April 1 as New Year became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called April fools.
