Urban Legends

Author : Thomas J. Craughwell
Publisher : Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN 13 : 1603762639
Total Pages : 688 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Urban Legends written by Thomas J. Craughwell and published by Black Dog & Leventhal. This book was released on 2005-03-14 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating, creepy, frightening, disgusting, and hilarious collection of some of the world's most popular and enduring tall tales. With themes that run the gamut from funny to sick, risqué to informative, and frightening to disgusting, Urban Legends features fantastic yarns that are remarkable for their uncanny ability to travel the world by word of mouth. We've all heard the one about the alligators that roam New York City's sewers, or how "Mikey" of Life Cereal fame died from eating Pop Rocks mixed with Coke. And what about the flustered parents who left their baby on the car roof, or the scuba diver who was found in the middle of a forest after a fire? These classic tall tales are featured here in all of their creepy glory along with hundreds of others, and they're guaranteed to amuse, enlighten, and intrigue, but be careful: they may stick in your mind forever.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393104168
Total Pages : 485 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends written by Jan Harold Brunvand and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-02-07 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If you enjoy these too-good-to-be-true tales, Brunvand's new book will give you hours of pleasure."—Chicago Tribune A fabulously entertaining book from the ultimate authority on those almost believable tales that always happen to a "friend of a friend." Alligators in the sewers? A pet in the microwave? A tragic misunderstanding of the function of cruise control? No, it didn't really happen to your friend's sister's neighbor: it's an urban legend. And no matter how savvy you think you are, you are sure to find in this collection of over 200 tales at least one story you would have sworn was true. Jan Harold Brunvand has been collecting and studying this modern folklore for over twenty years. In Too Good to Be True he captures the best stories in their best retellings, along with their latest variations and examples of how the stories have changed as they move from person to person and place to place. To help you find your favorite, Brunvand has arranged the tales thematically. "Bringing Up Baby" is full of episodes of child-rearing gone wrong, including the grisly tale of the drugged out baby-sitter who mistakes the kid for a turkey. "Funny Business" showcases stories of infamous lapses in customer service, such as the story of the shockingly expensive chocolate chip cookie recipe. And "The Criminal Mind" features both brilliant --if they were real --scams, as well as the purported antics of the less mentally gifted. Whether you want to become an expert debunker or just have plenty of laughs, this book will surprise and entertain you. Illustrated throughout. "Informative and entertaining.... Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly "A fun read... . All the classics are here from the killer upstairs to the Kentucky Fried Rat."—New City "Resonant stories that express our hidden anxieties ... make us laugh, [or] arouse our fascinated horror."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Informative and entertaining... . Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly

Author : Tim O'Shei
Publisher : Capstone
ISBN 13 : 1429645725
Total Pages : 18 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Creepy Urban Legends written by Tim O'Shei and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2011 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Describes scary urban legends, including The Vanishing Hitchhiker and The Babysitter on the Phone"--Provided by publisher.

Author : Ngaire E. Genge
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307560937
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Urban Legends written by Ngaire E. Genge and published by Crown. This book was released on 2010-06-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Legends is a remarkably complete collection of the modern myths that make the rounds in offices, college dorms, and every other place where people tell the stories that spring from our deepest fears and fascinations. Every culture has its folktales including ours. Except, instead of involving gods and goddesses or princes and princesses, ours involve "some guy my sister's best friend knows" or "someone who woke up in a motel room." They happened, supposedly, to real people, usually recently, in a particular place. And they touch the most sensitive nerves of our psyches with ironic twists, gross-out shocks, and moral lessons learned the hard way. From the classic tale "The Mexican Pet" in which the "dog" turns out to be no Chihuahua to the more unappetizing story of condoms as fast-food burger garnish, from surgically skilled kidney thieves to sexual experiments that end in the emergency room, Urban Legends relates more 300 of the most enticing, macabre, and unforgettable tales. Expertly told, they are arranged in such chapters as "Crazy Little Thang Called Sex," "Oh, Scare Me," "Campus Capers," "Corporate Convolutions," and "So Much For Comfort Food." Fascinating, chilling, and occasionally repulsive, Urban Legends has all your favorites and hundreds more.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393323580
Total Pages : 566 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Encyclopedia of Urban Legends written by Jan Harold Brunvand and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2002 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents descriptions of hundreds of urban legends and their variations, themes, and scholarly approaches to the genre, including such tales as disappearing hitchhikers and hypodermic needles left in the coin slots of pay telephones.

Author : Brandon Toropov
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 9780028640075
Total Pages : 334 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Urban Legends written by Brandon Toropov and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of modern-day urban myths and folklore explores questions relating to famous figures, government conspiracies, paranoia, revenge, chain letters, and humiliating experiences.

Author : Peter L'Official
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674238079
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Urban Legends written by Peter L'Official and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-21 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural history of the South Bronx that reaches beyond familiar narratives of urban ruin and renaissance, beyond the “inner city” symbol, to reveal the place and people obscured by its myths. For decades, the South Bronx was America’s “inner city.” Synonymous with civic neglect, crime, and metropolitan decay, the Bronx became the preeminent symbol used to proclaim the failings of urban places and the communities of color who lived in them. Images of its ruins—none more infamous than the one broadcast live during the 1977 World Series: a building burning near Yankee Stadium—proclaimed the failures of urbanism. Yet this same South Bronx produced hip hop, arguably the most powerful artistic and cultural innovation of the past fifty years. Two narratives—urban crisis and cultural renaissance—have dominated understandings of the Bronx and other urban environments. Today, as gentrification transforms American cities economically and demographically, the twin narratives structure our thinking about urban life. A Bronx native, Peter L’Official draws on literature and the visual arts to recapture the history, people, and place beyond its myths and legends. Both fact and symbol, the Bronx was not a decades-long funeral pyre, nor was hip hop its lone cultural contribution. L’Official juxtaposes the artist Gordon Matta-Clark’s carvings of abandoned buildings with the city’s trompe l’oeil decals program; examines the centrality of the Bronx’s infamous Charlotte Street to two Hollywood films; offers original readings of novels by Don DeLillo and Tom Wolfe; and charts the emergence of a “global Bronx” as graffiti was brought into galleries and exhibited internationally, promoting a symbolic Bronx abroad. Urban Legends presents a new cultural history of what it meant to live, work, and create in the Bronx.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393350401
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends written by Jan Harold Brunvand and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-10-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of the most chilling urban legends of all time collected by the maestro himself. Urban legends are those strange, but seemingly credible tales that always happen to a friend of a friend. For the first time, Professor Jan Harold Brunvand, "who has achieved almost legendary status" (Choice), has collected the creepiest, most terrifying urban legends, many that have spooked you since your childhood and others that you believe really did occur—even if it was one town over to some poor hapless coed who left a party early only to be followed by a man who just got loose from a mental hospital. From the classic hook-man story told around many a campfire to "Saved by a Cell Phone," these spine-tingling urban legends will give you goose bumps, even when you know they can't be true. Still, you'll continue to check the backseat of your car at gas stations and look under your bed at night before praying for sleep.

Author : David Wilton
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199740836
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Word Myths written by David Wilton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-11-06 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you "know" that posh comes from an acronym meaning "port out, starboard home"? That "the whole nine yards" comes from (pick one) the length of a WWII gunner's belt; the amount of fabric needed to make a kilt; a sarcastic football expression? That Chicago is called "The Windy City" because of the bloviating habits of its politicians, and not the breeze off the lake? If so, you need this book. David Wilton debunks the most persistently wrong word histories, and gives, to the best of our actual knowledge, the real stories behind these perennially mis-etymologized words. In addition, he explains why these wrong stories are created, disseminated, and persist, even after being corrected time and time again. What makes us cling to these stories, when the truth behind these words and phrases is available, for the most part, at any library or on the Internet? Arranged by chapters, this book avoids a dry A-Z format. Chapters separate misetymologies by kind, including The Perils of Political Correctness (picnics have nothing to do with lynchings), Posh, Phat Pommies (the problems of bacronyming--the desire to make every word into an acronym), and CANOE (which stands for the Conspiracy to Attribute Nautical Origins to Everything). Word Myths corrects long-held and far-flung examples of wrong etymologies, without taking the fun out of etymology itself. It's the best of both worlds: not only do you learn the many wrong stories behind these words, you also learn why and how they are created--and what the real story is.

Author : Ann Fiery
Publisher : Running Press Book Publishers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Complete And Totally True Book Of Urban Legends written by Ann Fiery and published by Running Press Book Publishers. This book was released on 2001-09-05 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compilation of urban legends includes "Rat food," "Bronze goddess," and "Walk the dog."