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By Cynthia Smith

Have you heard a ridiculous rumor recently, wondered if some wacky widget works or if the tale you just read about is fact or fiction? You should either Google it or see what Snopes says about it.

Just today as I was agonizing about not having a subject to write about this week, I received an idea via email. It was an article about Snopes.com the source by which some of us more curious and skeptical people check seemingly silly stories we get from time to time.

I used to be more likely to accept a lot of what I read as ‘gospel’, especially what I read on my computer. I would hear a story that was outlandish or one referring to some horrible emotional turmoil and I would want to quickly send it on to someone who might not have heard about it. One particular friend cured me of that habit. I would often look to her to ‘check out’ whatever story I had heard and she would chastise me for not checking it out myself as she was tired of being my ‘authority’ on so many subjects. She referred me to Snopes. com and later to Urban Legends.com.

Lately I heard through some source that even the site Snopes.com has been accused of not being ‘gospel’ anymore. So where should we go for checking? I can’t ask my friend anymore as she has chided me mightily and I don’t want her to know I am still a bit gullible about some things.

Just this past week I received the pictures and story about the Piebald or Calico buck harvested in Wisconsin. I knew my husband would be interested in this story and it never occurred to me it might not be true even though in the dark dim recesses of my memory I recalled the pictures of a shark of some kind of uniqueness being landed right there on Bolivar Peninsula in spitting distance of my daughter’s beach house. It turned out to be a manipulated photo; Photoshopped I think they call it.

In the article that came to me today about Snopes one of the first ‘recent stories’ that was mentioned there was that of the Calico Buck! I clicked there and lo and behold, the picture was not manipulated but the deer was actually killed on a private ranch in Palestine, Texas, not Wisconsin. It then occurred to me WHY would someone lie about where it was harvested? This to me was a case of why would you lie when the truth makes a better story? Beats me and the lie did not originate from the guy who killed the buck but as the story traveled, as they say the first liar doesn’t stand a chance in the storytelling. In my never to be humble opinion it would have made a much better story coming from Texas, although I do admit that Texans sometime tell some big windies.

Pat even took the Calico Buck picture to coffee and showed it to some old timers (older than us) and he declared, “Yes, he’d either heard of that or seen it before”. This old timer doesn’t have access to a computer so we deemed the story a true one.

I read a lot about Snopes.com and it is a big deal and it seems that they spend a lot of time either debunking or verifying the stories that come to them, although I do now have sense enough not to bet money on them or the things I read there. We are supposed to use our good sense, our knowledge and stow away our gullibility until we check and check again before making a fool of ourselves with what we think is fact. It never hurts to say “in my opinion or I believe” when stating supposed facts.

There was a story I read while doing this piece that peaked my interest and it had to do with a young boy who on a dare stuck his tongue to an ice cold pipe. When I say stuck I mean stuck so that he couldn’t withdraw his tongue without doing major damage to his tongue. Eventually police arrived and the boy was able to yank his tongue away but he had a bleeding tongue to show for the ordeal, but he was 10 years old, a kid on a dare they say.

I know for certain this could happen as it happened to a friend of ours when he was doing some field work for Exxon. It was summer and very hot and he touched his 30 year old tongue to an icy pipe dripping with moisture and there it STUCK. There he was bent over a low lying pipe with his tongue attached. He couldn’t even move his head from side to side to see if anyone was witness to this humiliating situation. He was stuck for some time, thinking how he could get unstuck without serious damage to his tongue. Spit was not forthcoming as it should have being he was virtually upside down at the time but he did see a tiny puddle of water just out of arms length. He managed to kick off one shoe within his reach and then use it to dip up a bit of water which he was able to pour over his mouth and tongue.

The worst part for our friend was that his tongue had begun to swell and he had to report in to one of the engineers that he needed to go home. The second worse thing was when he called his wife at work upon arriving home and with his tongue so greatly swollen he (imagine talking while holding your tongue between your fingers) mumbled his predicament to his laughing wife. Now you my reader, hold your tongue and say, “I put my tongue on a cold pipe and it got stuck there” and you’ll understand why she laughed. His tongue was bigger than his mouth and he had to sign a report for an on the job accident because he was off work two days due to his swollen tongue. Funny yes, and true but not funny to Roy.

I guess the best thing to remember regarding what you read or hear is to be sure your source is reliable otherwise, if it seems too wild to be true it probably is. One other reminder I read on Snopes.com is that anything that comes saying please send this to everyone on your address list is not what you should do, even if it says it comes from the FBI or CIA, do not do it. If you are waiting for your money from the latest Bill Gates story you can quit running to the mail box..it ain’t coming chump! Duped again.