Thirteen Things about GOSSIP ~ I thought this was an apt topic since the blogs have run hot with gossip recently!
1. According to Wikipedia gossip consists of casual or idle talk of any sort, sometimes (but not always) slanderous and/or devoted to discussing others.
2. It's not necessarily true, even though you might read it in a newspaper, magazine, on a blog or elsewhere. Check the facts before you repeat because sometimes the juicy gossip steps over into slander territory. Ask some of the newspapers who have had to fork over lots of money in fines.
3. Watching gossip in action is like watching a trainwreck. You don't want to watch but you just can't help yourself.
4. Gossip is BIG business. It sells magazines and books. People make careers out of collecting gossip. Some even photograph it.
5. Gossip might seem to foster or build a sense of community with shared information and interests. It can also provide a mating tool that allows (for example) women to mutually identify socially desirable men and compare notes on which men are better than others. It can entertain and divert.
6. Gossip has been around for a long time - they used to call it scandal in Regency times. In Early Modern England the word "gossip" referred to companions in childbirth, not limited to the midwife. It also became a term for women-friends generally, with no necessary derogatory connotations
7. "The idea of strictly minding our own business is moldy rubbish. Who could be so selfish?" ~ Myrtle Barker
8. People were firmly discouraged from gossiping during World War II since it could mean the difference between life and death, with spies everywhere. Posters were plastered everywhere discouraging gossip. e.g. "Careless Talk Costs Lives!"
9. "Where no wood is, the fire goes out; so where there is no tale bearer, the strife ceaseth" ~ Bible
10. Confession - I subscribe to some gossipy blog feeds. I don't always get time to read them, but I confess to scanning quickly. Does this make me a bad person?
11. "None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them" ~ Charles Colton.
12. "Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everyone enjoys" ~ Joseph Conrad.
13. "People with extraordinary minds talk about ideas. People with average minds talk about events. People with simple minds talk about other people." - Anonymous
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