To not point out story is an urban legend?

[StingLikeA]

I was in a group earlier of parents of DC's friends at a party. We were chatting away and one of them told an urban legend story (stealing a penguin from the zoo if that's relevant). I just went 'oh really ha ha' and moved the subject on as it felt really awkward.

Would you have politely pointed out that the story was a crock of shit to avoid them repeating it again? AIBU to have ignored it and presumably let them keep on telling it?

Has anyone else been told one of these face to face?

Storytelling to create a bond within a group. It worked and look here, it’s working again 😁

People believe all sorts of things. An urban myth is just an amusing anecdote.

If you are going to say anything you need to find a humorous way to do so that doesn't embarrass the other person, otherwise you risk causing shame.

This is why I'm always desperate to tell people of they've got something wrong. I want to spare them future embarrassment when they find out. I worked out in the ends that nobody likes you to tell them, and stopped, but I still wish people would do it for me.

My mum is adamant this happened to her friend.

I’ve read the glittery pubes thing on here at least twice and the kid called L-a. Each time the poster was called out and each time, the OP insisted it was true.

DH claims the spider one happened to his sister after a trip to the Amazon. He's spectacularly gullible though.

I made my mum look a tit when she told a story of her friends and her doing a Ouija board as teenagers and it spelled out "I'm under the car" or something..they looked and there was a cat that came running out from under the car. I pointed out I'd read the exact same story in a magazine

I remember a work colleague telling the one about the chicken abscess thirty years ago! She said it had happened to a relative of hers. She also told one about a man who tied his dog to a level crossing barrier while he went to help someone whose car had broken down and then the barrier went up. I later read an article saying that that one had been doing the rounds for centuries and the original version involved a donkey and a windmill, though that must have been an urban myth too. This same colleague also repeated the one about the non existent Captain Pugwash characters Master Bates and Seaman Staines.

My friend who is a primary school teacher had to stop two of her pupils from trying to steal a penguin on a zoo trip. They got as far as getting it into a bag. Maybe it is one of those things that because it’s a story that’s out there that you do get people now actually trying to do it. Somebody else has quoted a news article reporting on an incident of it happening. I guess it is therefore a slight possibility that it’s true.

The stupidest one I heard was a girl ordered a mcchicken sandwich without mayonnaise but upon biting into it it had mayonnaise. The staff swore they hadn't put mayonnaise in...turns out the burger had an abscess. Funny how proceed chicken can do that eh...

Agreed!

The contact lens thing could be true, because I actually DID go to A&E with a stuck contact lens as an 18 year old (I panicked…)

Sometimes I do tell people it's an urban legend, it's a bit annoying if they say it happened to them or a friend. One I was told last year was about a little girl disappearing in John Lewis. She was spotted coming out of the toilets with a woman, with her hair cropped, wearing boys clothes. Luckily a staff member stopped them. This is apparently one of the oldest urban legends, and I did tell the friend who told me. She was a bit annoyed !

My husband injured his eye when he accidentally slept in his contact lenses and one gave him a really bad corneal abrasion when he removed it. Opticians and hospital for him

The spider one could be true. My ex had spider eggs in his foot after walking barefoot on a beach in Vietnam.

Well this is a trip down memory lane!
The spider one, chewing gum, Brazil nuts, Master Bates, the gynaecologist one - though the version I heard was two first class stamps stuck there after the woman had used a tissue from her handbag as loo roll!
Had the La-dasha one only recently from an acquaintance who pretends to be a midwife.

Did anyone’s aunt have a stranger (possibly man dressed as woman) in their car, manage to lose said stranger, then on arriving home find an axe, rope and a plastic bag in the bag of her car? 😀

There’s another grim one that involves banging a severed head on the roof of a car. That happened “somewhere in America” in the 70s!

If I heard another in real life I’d not say anything, just make a note to take everything that person said with a pinch of salt.

Not an urban legend but if I had a pound for everyone who says they tell their kids ice cream vans play music to say the ice cream runs out....

That can happen - its called 'jiggers'! I got bitten on my foot in Kenya and had to wash the eggs out before they hatched

It’s the analogue version of the AI stories today - I think it’s fair to say ‘could that be made up?’ Rather than ‘don’t be a lying dickhead - that’s been an urban legend for decades’

Worth pointing out or at least a skeptical
smirk / eyebrow raise -

I remember both these!!!!

Sorry I didn’t telL it right. They had been drinking and contact lense got stuck half out and no matter how the pulled it wouldn’t come out. But they were really pulling part of their eye out. It’s an old story

You could say oh I’ve heard this before and thought it was an urban legend didn’t realise it was true but say it with genuine interest not like you are being cynical. Might stop them telling it again.

I remember telling everyone I knew the David Beckham story. I really thought it was true. I wonder if the person who made it up is thrilled that it’s still talked about 30 years later!

Yet in my late 30s I still refuse to give it a try…🙈