A form of modern folklore consisting of fictional stories with macabre elements deeply rooted in local popular culture.ecause people frequently allege that such tales happened to a friend of a friend (FOAF), the phrase has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story.
Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban area. Rather, the term is used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore of pre-industrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term contemporary legend. Because people frequently allege that such tales happened to a  friend of a friend  (FOAF), the phrase has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story. Sometimes urban legends are repeated in news stories, or distributed by e-mail or social media. Urban legends are a type of folklore — defined as the beliefs, stories and traditions of ordinary people (the folk) — so one way of differentiating between urban legends and other kinds of narrative (popular fiction, for example) is by examining where they come from and how they're disseminated. Q: What exactly are urban legends? A: Urban legends are popular stories alleged to be true and passed from individual to individual via oral or written (e.g. forwarded email) communication. Many urban legends are framed as complete stories with plot and characters. The compelling appeal of a typical urban legend is its elements of mystery, horror, fear or humor. Often they serve as cautionary tales. Because people frequently allege that such tales happened to a  friend of a friend  (FOAF), the phrase has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story. Sometimes urban legends are repeated in news stories, or distributed by e-mail or social media. urban legend. a legend that is hard to prove is true. or, it can be easy to prove it false. urban legends are usually written on paper most of the time. but when ppl pass it on it (which most of the time, is not a paper), the story changes from person to person. so thats why its hard to prove or disprove urban legends.  Urban Legends is a 30 minute 2007 television documentary-style series hosted by Michael Allcock. David Hewlett became the new host in 2011. In each episode, three urban legends are dramatized and presented to the television audience; the audience is then to speculate which one or two of the three is true. Each legend has witnesses to tell the story An urban legend, popular legend, urban myth, urban tale or contemporary legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of fictional stories with macabre elements deeply rooted in local popular culture. Because people frequently allege that such tales happened to a  friend of a friend  (FOAF), the phrase has become a commonly used term when recounting this type of story. Sometimes urban legends are repeated in news stories, or distributed by e-mail or social media. Part of the Internet acronyms and lingo glossary: An urban legend is a tale of contemporary folklore that purports to be true and is often designed to elicit an emotional response from the audience. On the Internet, urban legends are spread and survive over time through repeated e-mail forwardings and Web site postings. Like traditional legends, urban legends can seldom be traced to a single author. An urban legend often revolves around a strong central character or social issue of contemporary interest. In common parlance, urban myth and urban legend are synonymous. Academic folklorists tend to eschew the term urban myth, however, because a myth, strictly defined, is a sacred story pertaining to gods, goddesses and the origins of things. Q: What exactly are urban legends? A: Urban legends are popular stories alleged to be true and passed from individual to individual via oral or written (e.g. forwarded email) communication. The crucial factor is that the story is told as true in the absence of verification. Folklorists are generally more interested in the social context and meaning of urban legends than their truth value. Factual or not, when an urban legend is told it's meant to be believed. Accordingly, your typical urban legend will exhibit most or all of the following characteristics: 1  It's a narrative (a story). 2  It's of spontaneous (or indeterminate) origin. 3  It's likely to take the form of a cautionary tale. 4  It's alleged to be true though its veracity is unproven.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/errata/a/urban_legends.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=urban%20legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legends_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/urban-legend http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/errata/a/urban_legends.htm http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/urbanlegends/f/urbanlegends1.htm
what is a urban myth