medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Marjorie Greene wrote:
>
> I think, though, that there might be a problem with the relatively
> modern term "urban legend," which means for all intents and purposes
> a story that is assuredly not true. It is unfortunate that both
> "legend" and "myth" have come to mean "nonsense" or even "lie" in
> general (non-scholarly) usage. However, scholars use "legend" and
> "myth" with their original meanings, so those terms are less
> problematic than "urban legend," a term that has, I believe, only
> recently come into vogue. Perhaps, a change in terminology would be
> helpful.
There is nothing wrong (or even problematic) about the term "urban legend" -
it simply means a modern folktale, or a folktale of modern (urban) life. It
is a term used by a folklorists, and may have been invented by (it was
certainly popularised by) the American folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand with
his book "The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and their
Meanings" (1981). If you think it means 'nonsense or even lies told by
people who ought to know better', then perhaps that is a concept which might
usefully be applied in the study of hagiography.
John Briggs
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