#31 Genesis Post #11

I have so much work to do....but I'm gonna jump in on this. Because you're really annoying me! (Although, it mostly makes me smile and love you all the better because nobody else gets my goat quite as charmingly).

I'm using the word myth as it is described by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Definition of MYTH

1

a : a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenonb : parable, allegory

2

a : a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially : one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society<seduced by the American myth of individualism — Orde Coombs>b : an unfounded or false notion

3

: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence

4

: the whole body of myths

Now the definitions you credit to Kreef and Tacelli are a bit tedious. The appearance of specificity is not necessarily the advent of clarity. I do mean #2, but I also mean all of the above. Do we need to enumerate what myth is not?


If so, here is what myth does NOT mean: Something that is literally true, based on provable fact, and free from embellishment. Myth develops in order to make sense of things that are beyond our comprehension. 


As I've repeatedly stated, myths do have value. They should be studied from every angle.


Now, answer my darn question!!!