Most people have heard the story, usually imparted as a thing that "really happened to a friend of a friend," of the dotty grandma who tried to dry her damp poodle in the microwave. The dog exploded, sad to say, and Grandma has never been quite the same since.
That story isn't true, of course; it's an urban legend circulating via word of mouth since the 1970s. It recounts a mishap that could have happened, but we have no real evidence, nor any good reason to believe, that it ever did. Also, it conveys a familiar moral message: new technologies, albeit a boon to humanity, can also be dangerous if misused. Beware!
Factual or not, an urban legend is meant to be believed. In lieu of evidence, the teller of an urban legend is apt to rely on skillful storytelling and reference to putatively trustworthy sources -- e.g., "it really happened to my hairdresser's brother's best friend" -- to convince listeners of its veracity.
As many variants as tellers of the tale
Urban legends are a type of folklore, in turn defined as the handed-down beliefs, stories, songs and customs of ordinary people ("the folk"). One way to differentiate between urban legends and other narrative forms (e.g., popular fiction, TV dramas or news stories) is to compare how each type originates and spreads. Unlike fiction or drama, urban legends tend to emerge spontaneously and are rarely traceable to a single author or point of origin. Also unlike fiction or drama, urban legends are transmitted primarily through interpersonal communication, from individual to individual, and only in atypical cases via mass media or other institutional means. Lastly, urban legends tend to change over time through repetition and embellishment, hence no two versions are ever exactly alike; there can be as many variants as there are tellers of the tale.
Not always false
The phrase "urban legend" entered the popular lexicon in the early 1980s with the publication of folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand's first book on the subject, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings (New York: W.W. Norton, 1981). Though it has unfortunately become synonymous in common parlance with "false belief," the term is meant to denote a more subtle and complex societal phenomenon entailing the creation and transmission of folk narratives — narratives which are indeed usually false, but which also, on occasion, turn out to be 99.99% true.
Common characteristics
Accordingly, a given urban legend will typically exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
- It is a narrative.
- It is alleged to be true.
- It is plausible enough to be believed.
- Its veracity is unproven.
- It is of spontaneous (or, at any rate, indeterminate) origin.
- It varies in the telling.
- It is likely to take the form of a cautionary tale.
- It is attributed to putatively trustworthy secondhand sources (e.g., "a friend of a friend," "my sister's accountant," etc.).
- It is transmitted from individual to individual, either orally or in written form (e.g., via fax, photocopy or email).
Further reading:
Examples of common urban legends:
