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I've always been fascinated by the truth that people, particularly teenagers, can find in myths. It can be both hilarious and hazardous. As much as I would like to say I've never fallen prey to any particular myth, I, too, am guilty.

At age 15, my friends and I ate lunch at a large circular table in our high school lunchroom. I sat down one day, tray full of watered-down cafeteria food, to see that my friend Staci (name changed to protect the not-so-innocent) was sorting M&M's by the color.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a bit puzzled.
"Trying to find all of the green M&M's,' she replied.
"Um ... why?"
"Well," she sighed, "they make you horny. So I thought I would try them."

After cringing at the word horny, I pondered this idea a bit more. Green M&M's can turn you on? Really? Even at that naive age, I sort of questioned the belief's validity.

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There wasn't a doubt in my mind that Staci's little bushy-browed pervert of a boyfriend had cooked up this scheme after reading it in a magazine or hearing it on television. Most likely he had heard it on television, because I doubted he could read. Regardless of where he'd heard it, he told her, and there she was, munching away to her heart's desire, attempting to get turned on by M&M's of a secondary color.

This little fiasco was not a one-time thing, either. She stayed on the green M&M's kick for a while, and the effect of their alleged powers became a mantra of sorts for her. After a while, the myth did finally lose its power.

I'd like to think she moved on to bigger and better things, like green Mike & Ikes, but truthfully, I think she got tired of paying for a bag of M&M's only to get seven to ten pieces of love candy out of it.

But don't be fooled, the youthful myths didn't just end there. Here are some other popular myths I heard during my teens:

* If you wear green on Thursday, it means you are horny.
* All the myriad sexual positions that allegedly keep you from getting pregnant. Let me tell you, my threeyear-old is living proof that these rituals don't work.
* If you eat Pop Rocks and drink cola, your stomach will explode. Okay, not a sex myth per se, but it's hard to imagine having much of a romantic life after your belly has ruptured outward, "Alien"-style.
* The ability to peel a label off of a bottle whole indicates that a person is a virgin.

What sort of youthful myths did you and your friends hear, start or believe? Any you tested out?