Hey, Fishy Folks!

Today, April 1, is modernly known as April Fools Day. But, as we’ve covered in Blog posts past, the first of this month wasn’t always called this. And the day April Fools wasn’t always called April Fools Day either. It was called April Fish Day—no joke. For today’s Blog post, I thought I’d share a few little known facts about April Fools and April Fools related items. Check it out:

Something Smells Fishy Here…
It probably sounds like a cheap gag, but April Fools Day likely came from the French holiday, ‘April Fish Day’. In France, they used to celebrate a different version of the holiday in which the same prank was attempted on friends, acquaintances, and strangers of sticking a picture of a fish on their backside and calling out “April Fish!” in French.

April First for Two Days Straight
Likely derived from the April Fish custom, the Scots and the French came up with the ‘Kick Me’ sign. Scots REALLY like April Fools Day. They like it so much that they celebrate it twice. The next day is called ‘Taily Day’ which is all about sneaky pranks in which kids tried to stick strips of paper to someone’s backside. When successfully executed, the jokers gave their victims a new tail.

The Whoopee Whoopsie
Did you know that just one man in responsible for so many of the novelty gag objects you can think of such as the handshake buzzer, the snake-in-a-can, the stink bomb, and so much more—Soren Sorenson Adams. Back in 1930, he actually turned down the rights to the granddaddy of all gag toys: the Whoopee Cushion, declaring the entire premise to be “too indelicate.” Whoops.

In conclusion, watch out today for anybody trying to attach something to your backside, sit you down somewhere specific, or shake your hand. Maybe enjoy a Fish Fry as today lands on a Friday. Happy April Fish Day! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

While the summer camp experience is all about showing us a primitive and natural perspective of the world, there are some frills that no one really wants to leave behind—even when you plan on roughin’ it! Cutlery—forks, spoons, and knives—is one invention that you really don’t want to go camping without. Unless you’re just really into your chopsticks or you’re constantly opting for finger foods, you probably use a fork, a spoon, or a knife each and every day.

To be fair, primitive people in the Stone Age used eating utensils like spoons and knives pretty much since Day One. It seems we’ve never really been without eating utensils (they just didn’t look quite like the refined silverware we use so often now). What does the history of cutlery look like? Let’s investigate:

Knives
Knives are thought to be the first on the scene, long before civilization started. Sharp stones were likely collected along the way of our Stone Age ancestors’ travels as they would be used to cut meat, vegetables, fruit, and anything else they may have needed to cut.

Spoons
Spoons are thought to have come along soon after if not the same time as the knife. Folks in the early days would find hollowed out pieces of wood or seashells and connect them to wooden sticks to be used as spoons.

Forks
While there was a very early appearance of the knife and spoon, it was hundreds of thousands of years before the fork came along. Ancient Chinese civilization brought chopsticks about 5000 years ago. The fork followed after another thousand years—carved from wood or animal bones back in its beginning. They were initially made rather large as it was originally intended for serving rather than eating.

The Roman Empire’s metallurgy industry transformed eating utensils into pieces of bronze and silver—a great upgrade from the typical materials: wood, bone, and stone. Nowadays, cutlery has mostly remained metal with the same basic design, but the advent of plastic has seen plastic cutlery which experimented with the spoon and fork combination, the spork. With that, enjoy perusing our cutlery options for camping in our Mess Kit options. Take a look by clicking here. As always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

The recommended camp outfitter for more than 270 summer camps, we here at Everything Summer Camp are proud to work with every single one of them! And we love singing the praises of the many camps with whom we’ve developed a working relationship too. That’s why today I’m shining our camp spotlight on the great AYF Camp Haiastan summer camp in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Situated among the 100 acres of East Coast, Camp Haiastan offers an amazing view of the Uncas Pond as well as the surrounding beauty of Mother Nature. The first Armenian camp in America, Haiastan was founded 71 years ago back in 1951 though the seeds for it were first planted in 1939 when the Armenian Youth Federation elected their new Central Executive and it was decided to establish a youth camp.

When they found their land, everyone involved was convinced that this was a great service to the Armenian youth in America, as well as the people of Franklin, MA. With the mission set to provide a healthy and safe summer camp experience for the Armenian-American youth, the dream of Camp Haiastan finally became a reality in 1951.

Enjoy fun times there engaging in great activities such as Swimming, Athletics, Hiking, Ropes Course, and Boating. They also hold educational programs that teach about Armenian cultural which creates a bond between your camper and your Armenian heritage—an opportunity they’re not likely to find elsewhere. Haiastan. They even offer a class to help campers start learning the Armenian language.

At Camp Haiastan, your camper will have the extraordinary thrills of sleeping in a cabin, building a fire, competing in a team, or learning an Armenian dance. Check out more great information straight from the source on the Camp Haiastan website by clicking right here. And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

Juggling is one performance art with quite a past to it. Going back for thousands of years—4000 to be specific—there have been plenty of jugglers who made a name for themselves. With so many to pick from, how can I possibly choose just one name to highlight in the juggling world? Instead of picking a single pioneer or record setter of juggling, let’s take note of some of the big names as we review the past of juggling.

We know that juggling goes back at least 4000 years back because of paintings from that long ago depicting this entertaining art being performed. It was performed alongside dancers, acrobats, and other performers of kings and other rulers.

One of the first jugglers history remembers is Tagatus Ursus from Rome in the first century—known for the claim he had inscribed on his tombstone that he was the first ever to juggle glass balls. Pretty gutsy! Pierre Gringoire is another performer of the royal courts of his time around the Middle Ages (roughly 1500 AD). He became known as ‘Roi des Jongleurs’—French for ‘King of Jugglers’ and is credited with bringing the art form back from a long lull.  

The early 1800s brought the brothers Mooty and Medua Samme from India. Their street performance in Europe and created a new craze for Easter Acts. Some folks would even pose as Indian, Chinese, or Japanese to draw bigger crowds. Carl Rappo was a German who claimed to be Indian and wowed his crowds with magical feats of strength using iron balls.

Throughout history, juggling went through popularity booms. The early 1900s brought circus performers along with Vaudeville shows, but the 1920s saw interest in juggling plummet. It was finally revived around 1950 when a man named Hovey Burgess, a juggling fanatic, started teaching everyone he met the skill of juggling.

These are all names worth noting from the past. But Alex Barron (pictured to the right) is a contemporary record setter in the world of juggling. He holds the record for amount of balls juggled: 11! He managed 23 consecutive throws—one more throw necessary to meet a juggling run that qualifies (two throws per ball). He did this a decade ago in London.

Check out this past Blog post written for National Juggling Day and get a peek of me and our Vice president, Mark, showing off our juggling skills. Enjoy learning this age-old skill yourself and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Folks!

‘OK’ goes back to the 1830s. You know how people love to abbreviate things nowadays like tbh, omw, and lol? Well, that’s not exactly new. Folks back in the 1830s started abbreviating quick sayings. To turn it into something of an inside joke for those that understood, kids started purposefully misspelling quick sayings. Instead of “No Go”, they would say KG for ‘know go’. Or maybe they’d say OW for “oll write”.  

A common abbreviation they used was ‘OK’—short for “oll korrect”. All Correct was already a common phrase in the 1800s used to confirm that everything was in order. But it’s misspelled and abbreviated version really started taking off when it was published in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839. Other papers started using it too and before long it spread across the country!

After that, OK started gaining so much traction that supporters of the President at the time, Martin Van Buren, started using the abbreviation for his reelection campaign. Being from Kinderhook, NY, Martin's message was that “Old Kinderhook” was “oll korrect”. His opponents turned it around on him, however, saying the OK stood for an “Orful Katastrophe”.

Use in the presidential campaign cemented OK in American culture and language. But by 1844, OK was elevated from slang into official and practical use with the invention of the telegraph. OK proved itself to be very helpful in a media that valued short messages being relayed by Morse Code. O and K were easy letters to tap out and were unlikely to be confused with anything else.  

OK has lasted long after those other misspelled abbreviations have been forgotten. How strange that an inside joke from Boston nearly 200 years ago has maintained its popularity even now. Enjoy giving confirmation going forward and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John