Urban Legends
False Urban Legends:
One Christmas morning, the husband carefully places a cell phone he bought for his wife under the tree. He goes off to wake his wife and they return to find the phone has disappeared. The husband dials the number to find where he left it, and discovers the ringing is coming from inside the family dog. The dog is rushed off to the vet. A while later, the phone is found in the droppings, working perfectly well.
A massively large dog would have to eat a tiny cell phone, or a dog would have to be able to chew the phone into smaller pieces, in which case the phone would not still be working.
A women steps into an ice cream store. As she is waiting, Jack Nicholson enters and gets in line behind her. Flustered, the women orders. She leaves the store and realizes the cashier forgot to give her the ice cream. She returns to the store and scolds the boy. Jack Nicholson interrupts her to say that she placed the ice cream in her bag and threw out the change.
Sometimes the celebrity in this story is different, but none of them actually experienced anything close to this, for the simple reason that it never happened.
Julia Child, famous for her TV cooking show, was preparing a large turkey. Accidentally, it fell onto the floor. Julia Child picked it up, brushed off the dirt and put it back into the pan, justifying herself with the fact that she wasn't going to throw away a good bird because it was slightly dirty.
This is impossible. She wasn't shooting on air because the audience would not wait several hours for the turkey to cook. If this happened, they would simply do another take. Julia Child herself said that this urban legend is false.
One Christmas morning, the husband carefully places a cell phone he bought for his wife under the tree. He goes off to wake his wife and they return to find the phone has disappeared. The husband dials the number to find where he left it, and discovers the ringing is coming from inside the family dog. The dog is rushed off to the vet. A while later, the phone is found in the droppings, working perfectly well.
A massively large dog would have to eat a tiny cell phone, or a dog would have to be able to chew the phone into smaller pieces, in which case the phone would not still be working.
A women steps into an ice cream store. As she is waiting, Jack Nicholson enters and gets in line behind her. Flustered, the women orders. She leaves the store and realizes the cashier forgot to give her the ice cream. She returns to the store and scolds the boy. Jack Nicholson interrupts her to say that she placed the ice cream in her bag and threw out the change.
Sometimes the celebrity in this story is different, but none of them actually experienced anything close to this, for the simple reason that it never happened.
Julia Child, famous for her TV cooking show, was preparing a large turkey. Accidentally, it fell onto the floor. Julia Child picked it up, brushed off the dirt and put it back into the pan, justifying herself with the fact that she wasn't going to throw away a good bird because it was slightly dirty.
This is impossible. She wasn't shooting on air because the audience would not wait several hours for the turkey to cook. If this happened, they would simply do another take. Julia Child herself said that this urban legend is false.
True Urban Legends:
There was once a man who lost his passport/documents/citizenship while at an airport. He could not return where he came from because of political/religious/legal issues, nor could he enter the country the airport was in.
Having nothing else to do, he patiently waited for something to happen, meanwhile living at the airport, sleeping on seats, washing in the bathroom, and eating whatever he could find. Eventually, his story reached the rest of the world and he was granted access to wherever it was he wanted to go.
There is some truth in this story. The man's name was Mehran Karimi Nasseri. He was expelled from his home country, Iran, when he joined in protests against the country's leaders. He was rejected from every country he tried to enter, except for Belgium. He lived there for several years. Unsatisfied, he applied for citizenship in the UK in 1986 and was accepted. His documents were lost or stolen and though he managed to arrive at the UK airport, he was unable to actually enter the country. He was sent back to Charles De Gaulle airport in France, where he was placed in the waiting area. Eleven years later, he still sat in there, a polite and quiet man with his bags gathered around him. In 1999, he was allowed to live in France until his affairs were settled, but he refused, mostly likely because of a mental illness.
There was once a man who lost his passport/documents/citizenship while at an airport. He could not return where he came from because of political/religious/legal issues, nor could he enter the country the airport was in.
Having nothing else to do, he patiently waited for something to happen, meanwhile living at the airport, sleeping on seats, washing in the bathroom, and eating whatever he could find. Eventually, his story reached the rest of the world and he was granted access to wherever it was he wanted to go.
There is some truth in this story. The man's name was Mehran Karimi Nasseri. He was expelled from his home country, Iran, when he joined in protests against the country's leaders. He was rejected from every country he tried to enter, except for Belgium. He lived there for several years. Unsatisfied, he applied for citizenship in the UK in 1986 and was accepted. His documents were lost or stolen and though he managed to arrive at the UK airport, he was unable to actually enter the country. He was sent back to Charles De Gaulle airport in France, where he was placed in the waiting area. Eleven years later, he still sat in there, a polite and quiet man with his bags gathered around him. In 1999, he was allowed to live in France until his affairs were settled, but he refused, mostly likely because of a mental illness.
