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Examples: Origins: Weekly World News article or not, no one should be overly tempted to mistake the first example for an actual event. The man on the roof tale has been a popular urban legend since at least the mid-1960s. What inspires the intrepid home improver to ascend to those dizzying heights varies from telling to telling: he's there to adjust a malfunctioning TV antenna, to push down a heavy accumulation of snow, to fix a chimney, or to hammer down loose shingles. Sometimes the plan is to hoist him halfway up the side of the house (to fix a window or slap some paint on) by having a friend slowly back the car away, but even this always goes wrong. One non-roof version features a mechanic repairing the wing of a large aircraft while secured by rope to a portable piece of large ground equipment which, of course, gets ported away while he's tied to it. The brave soul flung through the air is always a man, and most of the time the one who thoughtlessly drives off without noticing a rope tied to the car's bumper is his wife. When what she's off to do is described, it's invariably a typically female pursuit — she's going shopping or heading to the beauty parlor. The stereotypes of the foolhardy yet enthusiastic weekend handyman and the shopping and beauty-obsessed woman are obvious. Shortcomings of both contribute to the accident. Sightings: In an episode of the TV show Emergency! (The Game, original air date 25 September 1976), a man on a roof tosses his safety rope to his son, who ties it to the bumper of Mom's car. Mom and daughter come out of the house, get into the car, and drive off, in the process flinging the man into a tree and breaking his leg.
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