Urban legends

For the 1998 movie, see Urban Legend (movie). Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them (see rumor). The term is often used in the meaning similar to the expression "apocryphal story". Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by e-mail. People frequently say such tales happened to a "friend of a friend"—so often, in fact, that FOAF has become a commonly used acronym to describe this sort of story. In the UK, urban legends are sometimes referred to as WTSs (Whale Tumour Stories), from a famous World War II story about whale meat. Urban legends are not necessarily untrue, but they are often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized. Despite the name, urban legends do not necessarily take place in an urban setting. The name is designed to differentiate them from traditional folklore created in preindustrial times. Some urban legends have survived a very long time, evolving only slightly over the years, as in the case of the story of a woman killed by spiders nesting in her elaborate hairdo. Others are new and reflect modern circumstances, like the story of people being sedated and waking up minus a kidney surgically removed for transplant. Urban legends often are born of fears and insecurities, or specifically designed to prey on such concerns. Contents 1 Origins 2 Structure 3 Propagation and belief 4 Urban legend versus urban myth 5 Documenting urban legends 6 Examples 7 See also 8 External links Origins Jan Harold Brunvand, Professor of English, first promoted the concept of the urban legend in his 1981 book The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings. Brunvand used his collection of legends to make two points: first, that legends, myths, and folklore do not belong solely to so-called primitive or traditional societies; and second, that one could learn much about urban and modern culture by studying such legends. Brunvand has since published a series of similar books. The field also credits Brunvand as the first to use the term vector (after the concept of a biological vector) to describe a person or entity passing along an urban legend. Structure Most urban legends are framed as stories, with plots and characters. The compelling nature of the story and its elements of mystery, horror, fear, or humor are part of what makes the tales so attractive. Many of these legends are presented as warnings or cautionary tales. Other urban legends might better be called "widely dispersed misinformation", such as the erroneous belief that you will automatically pass all of your college courses in a semester if your roommate kills himself. While such "facts" may not have the narrative elements of traditional legend, they are passed from person to person and generally have the elements of horror, humor or caution found in legends. Propagation and belief Many urban legends are about horrific crimes, contaminated foods or other situations that might affect a lot of people if they were true. If one hears such a story, and believes it, a person might feel compelled to warn friends and family. A person might also pass on non-cautionary information simply because it is funny or interesting. Many urban legends are basically extended jokes, told as if they were true events. In some cases they may have originated as pure jokes that some teller personalized to add point and force to the story. Many Internet users find unnecessary emails generated by the propagation of urban legends an annoyance, and at the same time consider the sender to be foolish, having been suckered by the story. People apparently take urban legends to be true instead of recognizing them as tall tales or unsubstantiated rumors because of the way the story is passed on. For example, if a friend tells you an urban legend, most likely she will say it happened to a friend of somebody she knows. This apparent accountability adds force to the narrative and personalizes it, drawing the listener into the story. Since people, unconsciously or otherwise, often exaggerate, conflate or "clean up" stories when passing them on, urban legends can alter over time. See meme and memetics for theories on the rules of transmission for this kind of information. Urban legend versus urban myth Some people use the term urban myth to refer to this type of folktale. Jan Harold Brunvand notes that the use of urban legend is less prejudicial because the term myth is often commonly used to describe cultural ideas and tales that are widely accepted as being false or untrue. It is also worth noting that the more academic definition of myth usually refers to a supernatural tale involving gods, spirits, the creation of the world, and so forth. Neither definition of the word myth accurately fits the concept of urban legends. For more information on the meanings of the word myth, see Mythology. Documenting urban legends Discussing, tracking, and analyzing urban legends has become a popular pursuit. It is the topic of a thriving Usenet newsgroup, alt.folklore.urban, and several Web pages, including snopes.com. and truthorfiction.com. The United States Department of Energy has a service called Hoaxbusters that deals with all sorts of computer-distributed hoaxes and legends. A TV series, MythBusters, tries to prove or disprove urban legends by actually attempting to reproduce them. Examples Many early historians recycled hearsay and anecdotal accounts as historical facts. These writings served as the basis for other accounts, and thus inaccurate historical narrative created self-perpetuating, vicious circles. Well-known modern urban legends include the person who tried to dry off a wet poodle in a microwave oven, killing it; the vanishing hitchhiker; and alligators said to live in New York City's sewers, where they grow to enormous size after having been flushed down the toilet by dissatisfied pet owners. See also Sewer alligators Conventional wisdom Curses Drug urban legends Faxlore Folk etymology Legend tripping MythBusters Old wives' tale Skepticism Urban Legends Reference Pages, also known as the Snopes website External links Urban Legends Reference Pages - Snopes The authority on urban legends. ScamBusters on Urban Legends alt.folklore.urban newsgroup Hoaxbusters The AFU And Urban Legends Archive About.com: Urban Legends and Folklore Christian Urban Legends Myth Busters TV show aiming to experimentally debunk or confirm urban myths bg:Градска легенда de:Moderne Sage el:Αστικός μύθος es:Leyenda urbana fr:Légende urbaine he:אגדה אורבנית hu:Városi legenda nl:Broodjeaapverhaal ja:都市伝説 pl:Miejska legenda pt:Lenda urbana fi:Urbaani legenda sv:Klintbergare zh:都會傳奇 Retrieved from "http://88.208.194.172/wiki/index.php/Urban_legend" Categories: Urban legends

Urban legends