What constitutes gossip?

[JasmineS]

I talk a lot about people, and someone told me she thinks I sound like I gossip too much. Nobody else thinks I gossip. I certainly don't mean to belittle anyone, but since I do talk a lot about people--what they say and my opinions on it--I wonder if I really need to work on that.

 

[Skittles]

If what you say is negative, or something private that the person may not want known, then it's gossip.

 

[BeenThere~DoneThatt]

There's nothing quite as tasty as a good piece of gossip. It allures and seduces. On the surface, gossip looks harmless. It appears as a victimless crime. Yet gossip is packed with empty calories, and is more dangerous than artery-hardening cholesterol!

Instinctively, we sense that gossip is wrong. It is for this reason we devise all kinds of justifications, like, "Well, it's true!" Or, "I would say it in front of him." Or, "Everybody knows about it already." We rationalize that if the person we're talking about doesn't know, what can it hurt.

Some people , however, says that gossip does hurt. Not only does it injure the person spoken about, it blemishes the one who says it. It even hurts those who hear it!

Every time we speak badly about another, we feel less inclined to perfect and improve our own character. Eventually, we become smug and self-righteous, demeaning others, rather than taking the more difficult path of improving ourselves.

So pernicious is gossip that it destroys the very fabric of society.

 

[BeenThere~DoneThatt]

There's nothing quite as tasty as a good piece of gossip. It allures and seduces. On the surface, gossip looks harmless. It appears as a victimless crime. Yet gossip is packed with empty calories, and is more dangerous than artery-hardening cholesterol!

Instinctively, we sense that gossip is wrong. It is for this reason we devise all kinds of justifications, like, "Well, it's true!" Or, "I would say it in front of him." Or, "Everybody knows about it already." We rationalize that if the person we're talking about doesn't know, what can it hurt.

Some people , however, says that gossip does hurt. Not only does it injure the person spoken about, it blemishes the one who says it. It even hurts those who hear it!

Every time we speak badly about another, we feel less inclined to perfect and improve our own character. Eventually, we become smug and self-righteous, demeaning others, rather than taking the more difficult path of improving ourselves.

So pernicious is gossip that it destroys the very fabric of society.