Sydney Morning
Herald [Australia]
26 March 2020
Column 8
In search of
the elusive certain times
[…] Michael Payne of West Pymble relates a story about
a responsible friend of his who was shopping and came across a man with a
trolley loaded full of pasta and sauce. "My friend took the man to task,
then the man replied, 'Can I get on with replenishing the shelves now?'"
[…]
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The Star [Kenya]
29 March 2020
'Dying baby says black tea cures virus ', rumour rages
like wildfire
[…] At about 3am, many people were calling each other
throughout the Coast region, saying black tea without sugar drunk before dawn
is the cure for the coronavirus, and possibly a preventative. It is said that a
child was born in the night and said these words about black tea before dying. […]
Last week, there were rumours that if one opens the Koran and finds a strand of
hair in the middle, it is from the beard of the prophet Muhammad. People should dip it in a glass of water, stir
and drink for immunity and a cure for Covid-19, the rumour mill said. […]
=====
Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, Zits, 29 March
2020 (detail). “I was dancing, not having a seizure!”
In urban legends, jerky body movements – such as
shaking a foot to dislodge a pebble or reacting to an insect or animal under
one’s clothes – are misinterpreted as epileptic seizures or electrocution.
“A woman came home to find her husband frantically
shaking in the kitchen with what looked like a wire running from his waist
towards the electric kettle. She picked up a heavy piece of wood and smashed it
into him to jolt him away from the current, breaking his arm in two places.
Then she discovered he was listening to his Walkman and having a jig.” Fortean Times #69, June/July 1993, p.
12, paraphrasing Southport, Ormskirk and
Formby Star, c. 7 Oct 1992.
