Beware of the UPS man, albino alligators in the sewer, and antiperspirants. 

Well, that is according to some popular and classic urban legends, sometimes called urban myths.
An urban legend is a story that is passed on from person to person, either by word of mouth or,
more recently, via e-mail, that sounds very credible, even citing experts with important-sounding
credentials. But urban legends are not true at all, although as folklore, some of them can be rather
entertaining.

One of the latest urban legends takes the form of an e-mail hoax. The message itself comes in
several versions, but they all involve the sale of vast numbers of UPS uniforms on Ebay, the
online auction site. 

Most of the messages state that as much as $32,000-worth of UPS uniforms has been sold on
Ebay in recent weeks and that experts in terrorism are assuming that they may be used to plant
bombs anywhere at any time by someone posing as a UPS driver. The message even includes the
names and titles of officials from the Department of Homeland Security, making it sound even
more believable.

Of course, like all e-mail hoaxes, this one comes with the standard red flag that tips you off that it
might be bogus. It includes a statement urging you to send a copy of the message to everyone in
your e-mail address book. Legitimate terrorist advisories always come through the regular news
media; they are never propagated by e-mail announcements to the general public.

A lot of urban legends, regardless of how they are propagated, center on medical issues, or
warnings about certain products. For example, there was a big scare in the late '90s that women
who use antiperspirants were far more likely to get breast cancer. In fact, it was claimed that
these were the "leading cause of breast cancer." Fortunately, that one was quickly dispelled by
the American Cancer Society, which was supposed to have issued the original warning.

Then there is the continuing urban legend about the dangers of aspartame, the artificial sweetener
that is commonly used in diet sodas and is sold under the brand name of Equal. According to the
legend, it is responsible for causing everything from migraine headaches to depression to cancer.

Aspartame, along with every other non-nutritive sweetener on the market today, has been tested
and re-tested dozens of times by competent authorities and found to be harmless, especially if
used in moderation. Even saccharine, which does carry an FDA warning that it causes cancer in
laboratory animals, has been vindicated with more recent research.

It's interesting how urban legends, and their less complex cousins the old wives' tales, get
started. Sometimes they start by a prankster who just wants to see how far it will go. Other times,
they begin because of a misguided conclusion of cause and effect: Someone eats or drinks
something and gets sick, so they assume the cause of their illness was the substance they
consumed. So they tell others to avoid it.

That was the case with the aspartame myth. People drink diet colas and then develop all manner
of symptoms. Since aspartame was a new sweetener back in the '80s, people who drank it and
then developed symptoms automatically assumed that it must be the aspartame. So the urban
legend began when they started passing on the "news."

I remember hearing several old wives' tales when I was young. Most came from my aunt. They
included such nonsense as "Drinking milk while eating fish will make you sick," or "Taking a
polio shot will give you polio." That's probably why I never received my inoculations against
that disease when I was young. And then there's that old standby - "Don't go out in the cold
without your coat or you'll catch pneumonia."

It's always a good idea to treat all e-mail warnings or stories you hear being passed around at
work or at school with suspicion until you confirm it as being true for yourself. If in doubt, do a
search for "urban legends" on the Internet. The "true story" you just heard or that ominous e-mail
warning about a dangerous virus might be completely bogus. 

Don't spread the rumor until you have confirmed that the story is legitimate. We don't need any
more urban legends floating around.