XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: benlizro@ihug.co.nz   
      
   On 5/11/2025 5:48 p.m., Tony Cooper wrote:   
   > On Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:50:48 +0200, Steve Hayes   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >>   
   >> What's the difference between an urban myth and an urban legend?   
   >   
   > The word "urban" is usually used to mean "of the city".  I can't think   
   > of any myths or legends that are specifically of the city.  Most are   
   > myths and legends that are shared by both the city mice and the   
   > country mice.   
   >   
      
   "Urban legend" was coined and popularized by folklorists in the late   
   20th century. Folklorists were used to going among country people to   
   find folk songs, folk tales and other folklore; but they began to   
   realize that city people, too, had stories, passed on by oral tradition,   
   said to be true but impossible to verify.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend   
      
   I don't think there is a distinction between "urban myth" and "urban   
   legend". But if I had to make one up, it might be that the legends take   
   the form of stories, asserted to be true ("This actually happened to a   
   guy my brother-in-law knew..."). Myths could be just general statements   
   conveying some (alleged) little-known fact about the world ("Coca Cola   
   kills sperm").   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)