COMMUNICATION/TRUTH/GOSSIP — THE
“F.O.A.F.” STORY Did you know that there are catfish so large down at the ____ dam, divers refuse to go down there? They say they can eat a man!” The first time I heard that story, it was told about a lake close to my boyhood home; the next time, it was a lake in Arkansas (and I argued with the teller that he had the wrong lake in mind); and another time the same story referred to one in Oklahoma. I discovered recently that every lake that has a fish in it has such a story. The tale is called an “F.O.A.F.” An “F.O.A.F” is a story we are just sure is true. We didn’t see it first hand, but we heard it from “A Friend of A Friend.” “F.O.A.F. stories” make the rounds for years, changing just a bit in every generation. There is the woman who dried her poodle in a microwave — an “F.O.A.F.” Have you ever…
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