Gossip, Fact or Opinion...
 

How do you distinguish these three.

Say for instance, I am recounting a story about someone that I observed...a story which is potentially slanderous. Does this count as gossip, or is it a fact according to how I saw it, or is it my opinion about what happened?

Or if I'm voicing how I feel about a person's character, based on a negative experience I had with them...is this merely my opinion, or is it the beginning of spreading gossip?

Even facts can be gossip, I think it depends on how the story is spread as well as the intentions of the people spreading it.

I think we define gossip as relating events from other people's lives that don't concern you or them directly. Specifically people in our social groups.

Malicious gossip is when the information, true or untrue, was disseminated for the purpose of hurting someone, or the information itself is genericaly hurtful. "Did you hear that Clarissa used to have sex with her brother?"

I am not sure that either of those definitions really cover it. There is an aura of frivolity or malice around the word gossip.

Re: Gossip, Fact or Opinion...
 

If you're telling the truth about someone, it cannot be slander. Slander is both potentially damaging to a person's reputation and false. I think if you tell your opinion truthfully, then it is a fact. However, the more emotions that the event evokes from you, the less objective your story becomes. Gossip can be the truth though. Whether something becomes gossip or not is contigent upon what the teller's motives are. If you confide in a friend who you know to be discreet then you're not necessarily spreading information, you're just venting to you're confidante. On the other hand, if you tell the story with the intent of it getting around or with indifference as to whether it gets around at all, it can become the subject of gossip.

If you voice your opinion about someone's character based on a negative experience you had with them, it may be that your personal dislike for this person is overshadowing what you would objectively define as his or her true character. If it's subjective at all then it is merely your opinion and may not be factual, but it doesn't necessarily have to be gossip.

~JoLiE~

Re: Gossip, Fact or Opinion...
 

This would be gossiping.

This would be you stating your opinion, if it's based on personal experience.

It would be gossiping if you allow your feelings to cause you to make untrue or unverified statements.

Gossip is rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature.

Rumor is a piece of unverified information of uncertain origin usually spread by word of mouth.

Facts are knowledge or information based on real occurrences.

Opinion is a belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.

Sorry!
 

Hey James, we said a lot of the same things, but you hadn't posted when I started my reply. I just don't want you thinking I'm copying you :).

~JoLiE~

"Did you hear that Clarissa used to have sex with her brother?"

But this, to me, is an example of hearsay. What happens if I walked up in Clarissa's house and SAW her with my own two eyes with her brother, and I decide to recount the experience to someone...is this gossip? Isn't this simply recalling what I saw?

Yes, you recalled what you saw as factual.

But that is gossip at the same time.

Gossip is any talk of a personal nature, whether true or false.

Re: Sorry!
 

Toujours_Jolie Oh! I was hoping you were copying. I would feel more important;)

INS2U I think hearsay has more to do with the credibility of the information. Gossip, can be true, or not true.

So you could have seen Clarissa and her brother going at it which makes the infomration true, but when you start telling all your pals, it becomes gossip. Same as if you just heard it from someone else.

After looking at a bunch of definitions and reading these posts, it seems that gossip is just light social communication about other people.

But there still seems something negative about it.

Now I am copying laidbackfella lol :p

Ok, why do we tend to think of gossip as a bad thing?

Think of it this way, if you are gonna have the slightest bit of fun telling the story, no matter if you saw it or heard it from someone else then it's probably gossip whether it's true or not. Hearsay really only comes into play (in my mind) if you are going to court otherwise it's pretty much gossip. You can always share your opinion of someone or a situation by quantifying it as YOUR opinion or someone else's opinion.

Gossip has the potential to turn into a bad thing. Stories get change and expanded upon so much from the first telling that by the time it comes back to the FIRST person the story has a whole new life.

I spent time with the Black Grad Student members and talked about dating, mentioned a FRIEND (not boyfriend, hell didn't even identify sex now that I think about it) that was coming to visit and two months later I was speaking to someone in the group that informed me I had been in a longterm relationship all this time.

That was gossip run amuck but at least I didn't have kids in the story.

Please note that when you start a discussion you should clearly define the words. Especially if the terminology would lend itself to confusion.

INS2U, I think your trouble with some of our explanation comes from your comfort with the words.

Your perception of the meaning of each is altering your application of the definition.

Look at the words and scenarios for what they are. Not how the words make you feel.

Actually that wasn't gossip. It was rumor.

The gossip was them talkin about it whether true or false.

The twists your story took was the rumor mill adding their own variations.

I was always taught that if you feel reluctant and ashamed to repeat what you’re saying about an individual, or individuals their face, it is most definitely gossip and more than likely hearsay.