Explore reading 1: Urban legends Read the article about urban legends. First decide whether the statements (1–8) are true (T) or false (F) and put a cross ( ) in the correct box. Then identify the sentence in the text which supports your decision. Write the first four words of this sentence in the space provided. There may be more than one correct answer: write down only one. The first one (0) has been done for you. 36 Urban Legends: How they start and why they persist By Heather Whipps My mother has this friend whose daughter … Sound familiar? You might have heard the same story. Except that it was someone’s boyfriend’s brother – or friend’s cousin. Or it’s an urban legend. Urban legends, or urban myths are an important part of popular culture, experts say, offering insight into our fears and the state of society. They are also good fun. The making of a legend Like the variations in the stories themselves, folklorists all have their own definitions of what makes an urban legend. Academics disagree on whether urban legends are too fantastic to be true, or at least partly based on fact, says Mikel J. Koven, a folklorist at the University of Wales. Urban legends aren’t easily verifiable. Usually passed on by word of mouth or in email form, they often use the famous ‘it happened to a friend of a friend’ (or FOAF) clause that makes finding the original source of the story virtually impossible. However, this isn’t as important as the lessons they teach us. “The lack of verification in no way diminishes the appeal that urban legends have for us,” writes Jan Harold Brunvand in The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. The definition of an urban legend, he writes, is “a strong basic story- appeal, a foundation in actual belief, and a meaningful message or moral.” Legends reflect cultural contexts Koven thinks urban legends are also good indicators of current society. “By looking at what’s implied in a story, we get an insight into the fears of a group in society,” he told LiveScience. “It’s these fears that tend to give rise to new legends.” A lot of fun, too … But urban legends aren’t all serious, with the most believable ones often presented as funny stories, and Brunvand argues that legends should be around as long as there are inexplicable occurrences in life. “It might seem unlikely that urban legends would continue to be created in an age of widespread literacy, rapid mass communications and restless travel,” he wrote in The Vanishing Hitchhiker, printed many years before widespread use of the internet. “A moment’s reflection, however, reminds us of the many weird, fascinating but unverified rumours that often come to our ears – madmen on the loose, shocking personal experiences, unsafe products and many other unexplained mysteries of daily life.” Statements True False First four words 0 One attraction of urban legends is that they are enjoyable. 1 Folklorists agree that urban legends have a basis in fact. 2 It’s very hard to discover how urban legends start. 3 We only enjoy urban legends because we know they are true. 4 Urban legends often have a sort of moral lesson or message. 5 Urban legends give us information about society. 6 New legends can reflect new worries and anxieties. 7 Some experts believe that legends will continue as long as there are mysterious incidents in people’s lives. 8 Modern times do not encourage the making of new urban myths. They are also good 108 Language skills Extras Explore 8 Fiction and reality Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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