It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical
jokes more than anyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of
practical joke: the hoax. Inviting the fire brigade to put out a nonexistent
fire is a crude form of deception which no self-respecting student would ever
indulge in. Students often create amusing situations which are funny to
everyone except the victims.#
When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his
university, he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two
students dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic
drill. As soon as he had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them
that if a policeman ordered them to go away, they were not to take him
seriously. He added that a student had dressed up as a policeman and was
playing all sorts of silly jokes on people. Both the police and the workmen
were grateful to the student for this piece of advance information.#
The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything
that went on. Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked
the workmen to go away. When he received a very rude reply from one of the
workmen, He threatened to remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as
he pleased and the policeman telephoned for help. Shortly afterwards, four
more policemen arrived and remonstrated with the workmen. As the men refused
to stop working, the police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill. The
workmen struggled fiercely and one of them lost his temper. He threatened to
call the police. At this, the police pointed out ironically that this would
hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest. Pretending to speak
seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a telephone call before
being taken to the station. Permission was granted and a policeman accompanied
him to a pay phone. Only when he saw that the man was actually telephoning the
police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a hoax.&