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URBAN LEGENDS

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Urban Legends, like Hip Hop and Rap Exhibit many features of Literature: They are dramatic, and play on such emotions as fear or embarrassment. They are filled with such rhetorical devices as Hyperbole (overstatement), Antithesis, Symbolism, Irony, and especially Poetic Justice. They appear credible, because they are grounded in reality, and because they explain mysterious phenomena. They are also based on stereotypes and archetypes we see around us every day. They get our attention. And they are documented, because they always happened to a Friend of a Friend. They are therefore called FOAF tales.

The driver of a cement truck goes past his house at lunch time and sees a brand new car in the driveway. He is suspicious that his wife has a male visitor, so he sneaks up to the house and hears a man’s voice. In anger, he…

backs his truck up to the new car and dumps in his load of cement.

Later he learns that his wife has just purchased the new car for his birthday.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 302)

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On a cold and rainy night, a man sees a young woman standing at a bus stop with no coat and no umbrella. He stops and offers her a ride home, which she gratefully accepts.

Because the two are so compatible and she lives right on his way, he arranges to pick her up on a regular basis. But after a few evenings she isn’t there. He goes to the house where he has been dropping her off and learns that…

20 years ago she had been killed by a speeding car at that very bus stop.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 303)

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A vacationing husband takes off all his clothes and is relaxing in the back of the camper while his wife takes a turn driving.

When she stops suddenly, he jumps out to see what the trouble is. It is just a dog crossing the road, so the wife…

speeds off not realizing that she has left her naked husband behind.

(Nilsen & Nilsen 303)

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The Baby and the Turkey A couple leaves their infant in the care of a 16-year-old babysitter for the evening. Calling to check on the status of the baby, the sitter reported that the baby was fine and that the turkey was in the oven. Remembering that they did not leave a turkey in the oven, the couple hurry home to find the babysitter intoxicated and the baby in the oven.

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The Hairy-Armed Hitchhiker A young woman returns to her car from a day's shopping. She had parked her car in the town's multi-story parking deck. As she approaches the car she notices someone sitting in the back seat. She cautiously checks the registration plate to see if it is indeed her car, as it is a popular model and color. The car is indeed hers, and as she gets closer she sees that it's an old woman sitting in the back seat. She asks the woman how and why she is sitting in her car.

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The old woman replies that she had been shopping with her son and family but felt unwell and returned to the car to rest. She obviously had mistaken the young woman's car for her son's, as it was the same model and color. The old woman then asks to be driven to a hospital, as she is still feeling unwell. The young woman agrees. As she gets into the driver's seat something makes her very nervous about the situation and she asks the old woman if she is feeling well enough to direct her as she reverses the car out of the parking place.

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The old woman agrees, gets out of the car and proceeds to direct the reversing manuever. As soon as the young woman has the car out of the parking space she speeds out of the car park, leaving the old woman stranded. She then drives straight to the nearest police station and reports the incident. A police officer then searched the car and found an axe concealed under the driver's seat. The young woman had had a lucky escape!

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The Kidney Heist A business traveler goes to a bar to have a drink after a long day at work…and then wakes up packed in an ice-filled bathtub with a phone beside it, and a note taped to the phone that says call 911. The traveler calls the 911 operator, who—having become very familiar with this crime—asks him to reach around behind his back and see if he can feel a tube protruding.

The traveler reaches behind his back and answers, “Yes.” The operator dispatches the paramedics because either one or both of his kidneys have been surgically removed. These “organ harvesters” are drugging unsuspecting travelers and removing their organs for sale on the black market.

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Snakes in the Pit…

About a week or so ago, a mother took her eager 3 year old son to Burger King for lunch. After they ate their lunch the mother said that the son could go and play on the playground for awhile since he ate all his lunch.

She watched as the boy played in the tunnels, slide and in the ball-pit. The boy played for about 10 minutes when he started to whimper slightly.

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The mother asks the boy what had happened and he mearly replied, "Hurt mommy." The mother assumed that the little boy had banged his elbow or something while playing.

They left to return home. A half and hour after they were home, the mother noticed some big red welts on the little boys arms and legs. Not being able to figure out what they were, the mother started to look at them closer. Could be red ant bites...she did not know.

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An hour later, the little boy died. Come to find out, when returning to Burger King to see if there were red ants in the play area, in case the little boy had an allergic reaction. Burger King employees and herself discovered that there was a family of baby rattlesnakes living underneath the balls in the ball-pit area. She has since found out that this happens more frequently than not. The snakes will crawl into the ball pit because it is dark and warm in there.

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RUMORS!!! HOW MANY HAVE YOU HEARD? There are ground worms in McDonald’s hamburgers Pop Rocks have exploded inside children’s stomachs Cigarette filters are made of ground glass Some Girl Scout cookies are laced with drugs Some Kentucky Fried Chicken is actually human fingers One of the ingredients of Coca Cola is cocaine.

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!!!TRUTH But the one about the Kentucky Fried Finger actually happened, but it was at Wendy’s and it was a customer’s finger. and it’s also true that one of the ingredients of Coca Cola used to be cocaine.

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HOW DO FAIRY TALES, TALL TALES AND URBAN LEGENDS DIFFER???

Characteristics of Tall Tales and Fairy Tales Fairy tales are typically concerned with

magic and the fantastic and rarely in a contemporary setting. Ex. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty

Tall tales are exaggerations of truth and legend, usually with a whimsical twist. Ex. Paul Bunyan and Johnny Appleseed (in North America) are examples of tall tales.

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Characteristics of Urban Legends

Urban legends typically share a three qualities:

They occur with no known author.

They contain bits of horror or humor, often to reinforce a social norm or acceptable behavior.

They must be interesting and easy to retell.

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You do it…

Independently, write or illustrate your own URBAN LEGEND…

Remember…involve an element of horror…

Have it reinforce a social norm or teach a lesson (like a moral) such as don’t talk to strangers, never go somewhere that you don’t know well, do not tell anyone that you are home alone, etc.

Make them interesting, but easy to re-tell…

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References:

www.public.asu.edu/~dnilsen/documents/urbanlegends.ppt --adapted from this Power Point presentation!!—MAIN REFERENCE SOURCE

Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Choking Doberman and Other “New” Urban Legends.

New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1984. Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and

Their Meaning. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1981. Dickson, Paul, and Joseph Golden. There Are Alligators in Our Sewers and Other

American Credos. New York, NY: Delacorte, 1983. Eschholz, Paul, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. Language Awareness: Readings

for College Writers, 10th Edition. New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Mey, Jacob. Pragmatics: An Introduction, 2nd Edition. Malden, MA: Blackwell,

2001. Nilsen, Alleen Pace, and Don L. F. Nilsen. Encyclopedia of 20th Century American

Humor. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art69302.asp

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