What is gossip?

I think gossip can generally be defined as any conversation that incites unnecessary drama. Not to be confused with necessary drama like the news reporting on a story about rape, thats not gossip that is factual news. But what is gossip is when they report on what a celebrity wore to the Oscars. I feel like I might be missing something but that should pretty much sum it up.

Talking about someone who isn’t present, without their permission.

Is it gossip if you are sharing a story that you know for a fact to be true but it isn’t your story to share? Yes, it is, especially if it will result in some sort of drama.

What an interesting question. I think Zaku nailed it. Here are two definitions from academic papers:

The use of language in human societies has been widely investigated, and several studies have shown that most conversations are about social information (1–4). Commonly, such communication about social topics, especially of third parties, is called gossip (5–7).
http://www.pnas.org/content/104/44/17435.full

The term gossip can refer to to any informal talk about someone who is not present, including rumor, slander, or simply the exchange of information. In our study we define gossip as evaluative talk about a person who is not present.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2096270?origin=crossref&cookieSet=1

Eh, just because an academic paper defines it that way doesn’t necessarily make it gossip though. I know a lot of political science studies that would label republicans as liberal. When I hear the word gossip, it usually implies some sort of negative undertone as in, it is not necessarily a good thing to gossip. So talking about someone who is not present, as long as it is factual, I feel like it is a stretch to label that as gossip. Like, oh hey my son got an A on this math test! That doesn’t feel like gossip to me.

@nikipedia so according to those definitions if I speak at all about someone who is not present that is gossip.

Should motives be considered at all when defining gossip? If I am talking to my sister who I know has spoken to my father more recently than I have, is it gossip to ask her how he is doing? @LKidKyle1985, but would it be gossip if I shared that my son got a D on the same test? Does sharing something negative make it gossip or at least more gossipy?

Or another example, ratting to the police on someone for a crime. Like, yeah my buddy Jim is the one who knocked off the convenience store on 5th. That is not gossip either.

Well, like I said I think when it incites unnecessary drama it falls into gossip. So for example, so your son gets an A on a test, but you know your co workers son got a D on that same test. and then you decide to say, hey my son got an A on that test just to spite your co worker, that seems more like gossip.

The first definition specifies that it must be “social information” about an absent third party and the second specifies that it be evaluative, so any old information wouldn’t count. I think a combination of these two is pretty close to what most people mean by “gossip.” “Evaluate” and “social information” are pretty broad, flexible terms, though.

Since I inspired this question with my quest to give up gossip for Lent, I will weigh in with what I’m vowing give up.

I feel like if I speak ill of someone when he/she is not around and he/she doesn’t have the opportunity to defend him/herself, I’ve gossiped. I don’t do this often, but I do find myself becoming irritated and vocal when someone’s incompetencies at work are glaring. I also believe I am gossipping when I say something mean-spirited that I would never or have never said to the subject of my dish. If what I am saying is based in fact, doesn’t demean a person’s characters or actions, and is spoken in a conversation between people who hold no hidden agendas, I say it’s not gossip.

Take, for instance, a situation I spoke with two co-workers about today. We were discussing the odds that teens today will remain virgins until marriage. We got on the topic of number of sexual partners, at which time one involved in the conversation mentioned that another co-worker is still a virgin. That led to the conversation of whether the knowledge and subsequent sharing of that information is gossip. We voted, “no,” it was a fact based statement spoken among a group of people who arrived at that tidbit through discussion of another topic, and ended up making a connection. Maybe we’re qualifying and justifying to make ourselves feel better? I don’t know. I just know that I am giving up speaking ill of others for Lent…along with sweets. I love to talk shit and eat chocolate, so it’s going to be a long six weeks!

Gossip
1a: person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others
2a: rumor or report of an intimate nature b: a chatty talk c: the subject matter of gossip
Merriam Webster definition

I would say that it is usually idle chatter that has a tendency to spread divisiveness. If you are discussing a family member because you are concerned about them that is not the same as discussing a family member because you were pissed off and wanted to vent. Typically this leads to resentment and disconnection.

In gimme’s case, the gossip started at the point when someone revealed an intimate detail about another person who wasn’t there. Before that it was a social discussion.

Gossip especially with teenage girls are more like he said she said kind of stuff. Some people say it just to become popular and start something that should have never been started! Mostly its about something made up and that is not proven fact and it spreads quickly. It`s a shame really. Even though I`m a teenage that`s why I quit hanging out with my best friend is because I am always in the middle of the gossip and drama and it really does affect the life of some girls who the gossip is usually about and it might lead to suicide.