Rickrolled: South Nyack historical sign on Esposito trail delivers pop music prank – The Journal News

SOUTH NYACK – History quiz: Who is Rick Astley? Or let’s play “Jeopardy!”: Who sang the 1987 song, “Never Gonna Give You Up”?

The village’s historical sign positioned along the Raymond Esposito Memorial Trail answers both.

Instead of a historical nugget, people who used their phones to scan a QR Code on the interactive signs have gotten a video of Astley dancing and singing his hit song.

Astley pops up through a disguised hyperlink that leads to the music video. When people click the unrelated link, the site with the music video loads instead.

The singer is a one-hit-wonder for the most part, but the meme using his video has gained traction as an Internet prank that’s become known as being “Rickrolled.” And he’s not the first: Rickrolling: 11 epic memes

How that happened to the village’s historical signage is being investigated.

“We know about the historical mistake and are trying to rectify,” Mayor Bonnie Christian said in an email.

The Urban Dictionary defines “rickrolling” as a method in which a prankster makes a fake link. The prank is considered funny because of the horrible dancing in this music video. Sometimes the bartender is seen to be funnier. Over 1 million people have been rickrolled and counting.”

The Astley meme grew out from a similar bait-and-switch trick called “duck rolling,” which became popular on the 4chan website in 2006 and spread to other Internet sites later that year, according to reports. 

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On the Friends of Nyack Facebook page, one poster, Kristy Leader, described being “rickrolled,” suggesting people “scan this QR code for a good laugh.”

“This is real. And too good for words,” she said, adding photo and code from the signs. “Take a walk on the trail and try it yourself,” she said, adding, “Thank you SN for making my day.”

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.