 - 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. Sociologists suggest that
the Internet has proven to be a rich environment for urban legends because
the Web allows people to share stories with each other faster than any
other medium in history. Occasionally urban legends turn out to be true,
but the majority are simply Internet misinformation, sometimes entertaining, but more often annoying, as in the case of the rather common virus hoax.
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| CONTRIBUTORS: |
David Kelly |
| LAST UPDATED: |
01 Apr 2004
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