# What are YOU doing to squash ULs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429 "2000-03-26T16:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/21 "2000-03-27T04:29:00Z")
Will it help fight the bad old **UL** if I buy all my electric devices from Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/22 "2000-03-27T05:07:00Z")
A friend sent me this one, which I’ve been passing along: > [@](#): > > I was on my way to the post office to pick up my case of free M&M’s (sent to me because I forwarded their e-mail to five other people, celebrating the fact that the year 2000 is ‘MM’ in Roman numerals) when I ran into a friend whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken - which is predictable, since as everyone knows, there’s no actual chicken in Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is why the government made them change their name to KFC. Anyway, one day this guy went to sleep, and when he awoke he was in his bathtub, and it was full of ice, and he was sore all over. When he got out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN!! He saw a note on his mirror that said ‘Call 911!’ but he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened an e-mail entitled ‘Join the crew!’ He knew it wasn’t a hoax because he himself was a computer programmer who was working on software to prevent a global disaster in which all the computers get together and distribute the $250.00 Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates. (It’s true - I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I know.) The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his missing kidneys, but a voice on the line first asked him to press #90, which unwittingly gave the bandit full access to the phone line at the guy’s expense. Then reaching into the coin-return slot, he got jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped around a note that said, ‘Welcome to the world of AIDS.’ Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital - the one where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an e-mail, and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for every e-mail he receives. I sent him two e-mails. One of them was a bunch of x’s and o’s in the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to more than 10 people, you will have good luck, but for 10 people you will only have OK luck, and if you send it to fewer than 10 people you will have BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS). So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on the way he noticed another car driving without its lights on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him, and was promptly shot as part of a gang initiation. Send THIS to all the friends who send you their junk mail and you will receive 4 green m&ms. If you don’t, the owner of Proctor and Gamble will report you to his Satanist friends and you will have more bad luck: you will get cancer from the Sodium Laureth Sulfate in your shampoo, your mother will develop breast cancer from using the antiperspirant which clogs the pores under your arms, and the U.S. government will put a tax on your e-mails forever. I know this is all true 'cause I read it on the Internet. * * * and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel to toe ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/23 "2000-03-27T05:23:00Z")
Another good place that I’m surprised hasn’t shown up yet is: [http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm?pid=2733&cob=home](http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm?pid=2733&cob=home) My friends have simply stopped sending me “email tracking” stuff because they know they will get links and addresses back. It’s a lonely fight because things you thought had died will appear again years later. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/24 "2000-03-27T06:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Chief Crunch: > **For the most part, it’s useless. I could not convince my aunt that the -gry riddle was altered and the answer was intended to be “language” as in “there are only three words in the English language.” Most people react with some bizarre, vehement form of defense with lines like, "No, no, this REALLY happened to a friend of mine."** I think you’ve been sucked in. See section 2.2 of the [rec.puzzles faq](http://xraysgi.ims.uconn.edu/). There is no documentation supporting your version of the gry puzzle that I know of. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/25 "2000-03-27T07:09:00Z")
There have been several -gry threads since I’ve been here and that is the version of the -gry riddle most people cite as the original. I tried a search, but it seems not to be working. I clicked on the link you provided and looked around, but there’s no mention of a FAQ, so I did a Yahoo! search and came up with the following: > [@](#): > > What are the three common English words that end in -GRY? > > There are only two: angry and hungry. The rec.puzzles archive offers a > large collection of words that end in -GRY, but none of them could be > considered even remotely common. > > There are many generally unsatisfying “trick” answers to the problem, > which depend on a specific wording of the question or that the question be > spoken instead of written. There seems to be no agreement among puzzle > historians about which form is the original, or even the age of the > problem. In any event, it is apparent that the frequent mutations of the > puzzle statement over the years have erased whatever answer was intended > by the original author. The FAQ refers to a “trick” answer, which is the category “The English language” version would fall under. Every copy of the riddle I have ever seen contains a line akin to “And if you’ve listened/read carefully, I’ve already told you what the word is”, which makes no sense if the “There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word?” part is left out. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/26 "2000-03-27T14:46:00Z")
Oops, sorry, that link was to the rec.puzzles archive, not the faq. But you did quote the section of the faq that I was referring to. Do you have some original references? The writers of the faq would be very interested. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/27 "2000-03-27T17:02:00Z")
How can there be “original references” for a riddle that travels via word of mouth or the internet? It’s like trying to find the single person that started any given urban legend or chain letter. Just because the “trick” answer is “unsatisfying” as the FAQ says, doesn’t mean it isn’t necessarily the original. In my experience, a great many riddles have stupid trick answers. Of course, there’s no way of knowing for sure what the original wording of the riddle and answer were. The point I was trying to make is that my aunt still believes there are only three words that end in “-gry”, and she also believes the third word is used everyday, but she’s just overlooked it. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/28 "2000-03-28T06:20:00Z")
There’s some pleasure to be derived by just sitting back and watch the beauty of a UL being propagated. However, since the elimination of ignorance is important, I usually modify my tack. If it’s an e-mailed version, I’ll check with snopes and reply back (to the sender only) with the link to snopes. I also usually will quote a pertinent paragraph from the site, in case the person is too lazy to follow the link. I would never reply to the whole distribution list, because you’re basically calling that person an I-D-ten-T (ID10T) publically. This is not a way to make friends. In conversation, I’ll refrain from jumping in and declaring it to be a known UL, unless someone asks its UL status. But I will ask a few hard questions to maybe pique the teller’s (and listeners’) skepticism. Questions like “Do you yourself know this person?” and “Did he tell you himself?”. Also, “Don’t they have to precisely match a kidney to its donor?” and “I thought Jay Leno collected old cars, not Harleys.” Actually, I hardley ever hear UL’s by word-of-mouth anymore. I think the last one I heard was the Leno/Elvis/Harley one, and that was about five years ago. And after correcting the e-mail blasters a couple of times, I stop getting those. I’m not sure if they get wise and stop sending them, or they just take me off their distribution list. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/29 "2000-03-28T06:41:00Z")
I am on the verge of giving up. I have one friend who sends me every UL that comes down the pike. I send her references to snopes and the F-secure site (I get every virus warning from her, too), but she never takes the hint. I even say in all the messages “Bookmark these sites and check them first next time,” but she never does. * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy [The Kat House](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/home.htm) [Join the FSH Muscular Dystrophy Webring](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/fshwebring.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/30 "2000-03-27T19:15:00Z")
The "Three words ending in GRY showed up on the local talk show today. I called in and read him the original riddle and let him and the listeners on the joke. People Still called in with words like Pgry and Aggry and Gry. Since he is a conservative talk show host and therefore intelligent 😉 he told these people that they were wrong, that it is a stupid riddle and to just get over it. Score one over ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/31 "2000-03-27T19:19:00Z")
I take the annoying route. I reply to the entire list, and even everyone on any forwarded list. I include a politely phrased memo about the senders having “good intentions,” then I include a link to [about.com](http://about.com). I’ve gotten a couple nasty letters from total strangers, which is fun. But I now also have a couple of friends who run all ULs by me before sending them on. Oh, and our company now has a policy against mass-mailing e-mail to the entire staff, brought about in part by some UL mailings a few years back. * * * “The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/32 "2000-03-27T19:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mr.Zambezi: > **The "Three words ending in GRY showed up on the local talk show today. I called in and read him the original riddle and let him and the listeners on the joke.** Well, as Chief Crunch noticed, there is no original riddle. At least, to the best of our knowledge. To say that there is, is a form of UL itself. It is well documented that there is no third common word ending in -gry, but that is a different story. Have you heard the version that turns on -gry being pronounced “g or y?” * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/33 "2000-03-28T06:16:00Z")
Being the sadistic person that I am I still enjoy the fight. I got a warm-fuzzy feeling the other day when I opened an e-mail from a friend who is a notorious UL-forwarder with the subject line, “Hey, is this true or not?” Apparently, she has tried to check snopes but did not look close enough to know they had a search feature. (It _was_ an UL, BTW.) At work, everyone received an official e-mail from the powers-that-be telling them not to forward such things (along with chain letters) mostly because I sent a letter to the CEO telling him that a select few of his employees were taking up valuable time (on the clock) and space on corporate e-mail to spread lies. Those of you who have given up the fight, feel free to forward any messages you get to me and I will reply to everyone on the lists under the name, “UL Buster Extraordinaire” and set them straight! (I have no life!) * * * I always try to do things in chronological order. ---
**Author:** ![docandjean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@docandjean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/docandjean)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/34 "2000-03-28T16:37:00Z")
I’m in the “reply to all” camp. And I tend to add snitty comments about people not checking their facts before forwarding mass mailings. The worst ones are from folks on AOL, with forwards buried inside of forwards. I did have one person email back to me after I responed thanking me for setting him straight. And I have a link to both the Straight Dope homepage and the snopes homepage on my website. Fighting ignorance is an uphill battle. ---
**Author:** ![Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Patricinus\_Scriblerus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patricinus_Scriblerus)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/35 "2000-03-28T17:21:00Z")
Remember what your Mommy told you “If it sounds too good to be true it probably is”. Good advice! Mothers are always so smart! * * * There are only two things that are infinite…the Universe and Man’s stupidity…I’m not sure about the Universe though. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/36 "2000-03-29T06:26:00Z")
**Pull Tab Hoax Update:** The lady here who spearheads the pull tab drive showed me a letter from some organization called Family Campers & RVers. It said thanx so much for the recent contribution of 73 pounds of tabs (according to the letter it takes over 1300 tabs to make a pound). I did some quick math and infomed her that using those numbers and based on the amount of cash the letter claims to have received from the recycling center, a single pull tab must therefore have a cash value of about 10¢! That just doesn’t make any sense when you consider that it takes about 33 _whole cans_ to make a pound, and recycling centers will give anywhere from 10¢-28¢ per pound (equal to .6¢ average **per can** ). Some people are impervious to arithmetic. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/37 "2000-03-28T19:15:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by opus: > \*\*Some people are impervious to arithmetic. > \*\* this is today’s brilliant statement… I may get it tattooed somewhere 🙂 🙂 🙂 * * * I am a redhead, you see, and I do not tempt. I insist. -Cristi ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/38 "2000-03-28T19:18:00Z")
What are you kidding? I’m busy thinking em up, and forwarding them to everyone on my list! 😃 _runs and hides_ ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/39 "2000-03-28T19:20:00Z")
oh great… THAT had to be my 300th post… ---
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429/40 "2000-03-28T22:04:00Z")
Quite a few people have referenced Snopes as the be-all and end-all authority on a tale’s veracity. WHY? Why is one Barbara “Debunker Extraordinaire” Mikkelson given such deference as a flawless authority? She provides plenty of cites for her answers, sure, but has anyone actually checked them out? independently verified her conclusions? conducted their own research? I imagine the answer is ‘no.’ (Though please let me know if you have.) So isn’t blindly following her debunking of ULs (almost) as bad as blindly believing the UL in the first place? (Now, I’ll fully admit that to a skeptic such as myself, nearly every one of the legends she debunks is, prima facie, untrue, but then why not appeal to simple common sense instead of to an unknown and unaccredited authority?) As long as we’re on that topic, why believe Cecil? Ms. Mikkelson at least has the good graces to provide cites for her answers, whereas our gracious host here (usually) doesn’t even give us that much. Many people here blindly follow his every dictum as words from on high, despite any supporting evidence of his claims. ## So why do y’all, self-proclaimed skeptics throughout, elevate Unca Cece to the demigod of truth? ~ Complacency is far more dangerous than outrage ~ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-doing-to-squash-uls/9429.md?page=3)