Anecdotes, urban legends and other factoids.

ShebaJones · Sep 14, 2009

All right. I'm collaborating on a nonfiction book with my auntie (or will be, whenever we can get together). She's sent me what she has so far, including an anecdote that she heard while she was in counseling training. The anecdote was fun, and fitting.

I found the anecdote again, quite by accident, on Snopes last night, and it's been printed in a book before. I emailed her and told her about it this morning, but I have a few questions for y'all:

1. Has this happened to anyone here? (i.e., discovering the source of a story wasn't really the source after you'd written it into something)
2. If so, how did you handle it?
3. Why do I feel like an a-hole?

Puma · Sep 14, 2009

I haven't had the problem with writing it into something; I have been bitten by a forward or two before. After I've found out the forward I received (and sent to a few people) had a problem, I've sent the Snopes information to the same recipients with a sorry.

I think you have two alternatives on your anecdote - one is to drop it; the other is to use it but put in a footnote with a bit of the Snopes information. It's unfortunate there are so many untrue or tainted stories floating around. And don't feel like an a-hole - people get caught by these every day. Good you found the truth about it when you did. Puma

Red-Green · Sep 14, 2009

No need to feel like an a-hole. This kind of thing does happen, for the same reason eyewitnesses to crimes are notoriously unreliable. People are easily swayed into believing they saw something they didn't see. Similarly, people convince themselves that something they've heard actually happened to them or to somebody they know. Often they don't even realize that they've co-opted an urban legend. This is particularly true as people get older. Lines between what happened and what people wanted to happen can get blurred, and lines between what happened and what they've heard get blurred, too.

ShebaJones · Sep 14, 2009

Thanks. It seems like this particular story was read in a collection of similar stories, then passed around from person to person until "This happened to a guy I know" fell into it. She called, we talked about covering it with proper attributions, and it's really just a small part.

I also go through this with my dad a lot for some reason.

Anecdotes, urban legends and other factoids.

ShebaJones

I post in the nude.

Puma

Retired and loving it!

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!

ShebaJones

I post in the nude.