Date:         Fri, 14 Nov 1997 22:42:19 EST
From: little tinks mean a lot <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Fwd: A free cookie recipe! sounds DELICIOUS!!! :O) ENJOY!

On Fri, 14 Nov 1997 18:16:07 -0500, Lvnualwaz@AOL.COM forwarded
a copy of the Neimann-Marcus Cookie Recipe...

My response:

Thank you for the thought.  It's nice to know that you wanted to
share this with us.

However, the Neimann-Marcus cookie message is one of the famous
internet hoaxes.  It has been around for quite a while (and most of us
have forwarded it at least once, or a similar hoax, before we learned
to avoid the flash flames in response to such well-known bits).

Incidentally, people say this is a variation of a story that has been
traced back to the 1930's about Waldorf Astoria's Red Velvet Cake.
The Niemann-Marcus folks say this version goes back at least to 1986.
Another fairly popular version on the net refers to Mrs. Fields...  So
don't be too surprised that you "got caught"--you're in good company,
people have been repeating this one for a long time.

If you go to your favorite web search engine and ask for
Niemann Marcus Cookies Recipe, you might be surprised at how
many places have (a) the original story posted as truth and (b) lots
of people attempting to explain that this is a hoax.

one example of a debunking page:
http://luna.bearnet.com/misc/nm-hoax.html

incidentally, this might help with urban legends:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/folklore-faq/top.html

Oh, one suggestion--when forwarding material, do try to cut out the
extra mail headers and other stuff.

thanks
tink