Monday, March 30, 2020

Stocker Mistaken for Hoarder – Dancing = Seizure – Newborn Gives Medical Advice (Kenya)



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. […]

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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.


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