A
hoax is an attempt to
trick an audience into believing that something false is real. Generally there is some material object involved, which is actually a
forgery. Unlike a
fraud or
con (which usually has an audience of one or a few), which are made for illicit financial or material gain, or a fraud which is perpetrated to support a false
religion, a hoax is often perpetrated as a
practical joke with a humorous intent, to cause embarrassment, for personal aggrandizement or to serve political purposes. Still, many confidence tricks and the like have also been labeled as hoaxes.
Many hoaxes are also motivated by a desire to
satirize or educate by exposing the credulity of the public or the absurdity of the target: literary and artistic hoaxes are often of this sort, although political hoaxes are sometimes motivated in part or whole by the desire to ridicule or expose politicians or political institutions.
The status of a given
factoid as reliable or hoax is often the subject of considerable controversy.
The word
hoax came from the common pretend
magic spell "hocus pocus". "Hocus pocus", in turn, is commonly believed to be a distortion of "hoc est corpus" (= "this is the body") from the
Latin Mass. Many
etymologists dispute this claim.
Historically important hoaxes
- Bathtub hoax, perpetrated by American journalist and satirist Mencken in the 1920s, was credited even after it was exposed by the author.
Hoax traditions
During certain events and at particular times of year, hoaxes are perpetrated by many people and groups. The most famous of these is certainly
April Fool's Day, the annual
open season for fictional accounts and dubious announcements.
A
New Zealand tradition is the
capping stunt, wherein
university students perpetrate a hoax upon an unsuspecting population. They are traditionally executed near autumn (may)
graduation (the "capping").
See also
External links
Category:Deception
Category:Fictional documentaries
de:Hoax
fr:Canular
ja:悪戯
nl:Hoax
pl:Mistyfikacja
pt:Hoax