Overtold Urban Legends

Of the many things that irk me, being told an urban legend by someone as though it was their own story... is one of the worst. Do you know what I'm talking about? How many times have you heard the same amazing story twice from two totally different people about some really bizarre incident that happened to their mom's friend's friend or their uncle's boss' friend?

I don't know if it has to do with the type of people you hang out with.. but I remember mainly hearing these in junior high and high school from people of different social groups. Well... after hearing the same stories twice, it makes you a little suspicious about whether or not it really happened to their friend's friend/mother's best friend's aunt, or if it was someone else's story that they heard and decided to retell it as their own.

Lemme see... these are the ones I remember being told at least twice by different people... I know there are tons and tons of other urban legends out there, but I just wanna share the ones that have actually reached my ears...

- Ever heard of the story of the kid who was running away from the cops and hit a sheet of acid in his socks and the sweat caused the LSD to absorb into his skin and now he is in some mental hospital where he thinks he's a glass of orange juice and tells people to drink him? "Drink me! Drink me!" I'm tired of hearing that one!

- What about the ever disgusting story about the woman, her dog, peanut butter, and a surprise birthday party? I don't really want to get into that one on here, sorry. Possible employers might be reading!

- Did you know that if you drop a penny of the Empire State Building, it'll go 6 feet into the ground. I've heard this one a lot... doesn't hail fall from a higher altitude without burying itself 6 feet under? *shrug*

- Various Coca-Cola myths... some are true.. many are not... I've heard the one about leaving the tooth in a glass of Coke will cause it to dissolve overnight.

- Someone you knew coughed up blood when they smoked cloves... didn't bother to find a link for it.. plus I don't know if this is completely false. Then again it's not about whether or not the story is true.

- The supposed scene in The Wizard of Oz where one of the cast hung himself... here's Mindy@5ilver.net's perspective of the possible urban legend.

- Oh yeah, and how could I forget! My mom's friend is a nurse, and one night while working in the emergency room, they found that this guy had a chicken stuck to his %thingie% and apparently the story was that he had sex with the chicken and it died.. when it died, its muscles contracted and therefore got stuck. And you also hear similar stories about hamsters and other poor animals.

... there are many many more out there, and I'm sure I'll hear another one over the years ...

The question is... why do people think they can get away with telling those stories if they're so common?!?! Do they really think they'll get away telling these stories especially after changing it around so it sounds like it happened to someone closer to them? Blah... I would think the last thing you would want to do is repeat an incredible sounding story that wasn't yours to begin with and making it yours. First of all...that's stealing... and secondly, why not let the person who told it to you look stupid later on... not YOU! Why continue the chain of stupidity with yourself?

So...I'm wondering, what DO you do when someone tells you a classic urban legend and act like you've probably never heard it before? What should you say? "Are you kidding me???? That story's been told a hundred times -- dumbass!" or.. "Wow! REALLY? That's amazing! You're such a cool dude/dudette!" Eh.. I dunno.. I'll just have to see what my instinct is the next time that happens to me.

Anyway... after thinking about how annoying urban legends are... it makes me wonder... are the people who retell those stories the same type of people that probably forward you with all sorts of chain letters and "must-be-true stories" that you don't care about? Hmmmmmmmmmm........