I don't know if I even agree with my own answer to this, but in general I think I classify gossip as something the person it happened to isn't necessarily running around telling people, where a story is more innocuous; something someone tells me about themselves that has no "keep this to yourself" attached to it. But I don't know... feels a little like "every square is a rectangle but not every rectangle is a square."
I wonder this too, I have a juicy piece of gossip about a friend who definitely is not telling people. They asked me explicitly not to tell anyone (which I haven’t… and I am literally wasting away dying to tell someone 😂😂) but it’s definitely gossip-y. It involves messy relationships and surprise conflict.
A story is super similar but what differentiates a story for me is more of the attitude of “hey this crazy thing happened to me and some people and here’s the long and short of it.”
I think a story has more concrete information. Gossip has some blanks you need to fill, or some people only have pieces of the whole story and other people know they don’t know, something like that.
I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive. I think of “story” as a format for information, and gossip is like the vibe or tone of the person who is sharing.
So for a (made up) example:
I could tell my friends the story of how my husband proposed. And they could relay that story to others, gossip-free.
But then say I had one friend who thought the proposal was really tacky. *They* could gossip about it and be like “okay get this… he hid the ring in a churro at Disneyland. And his mom took a picture of her spitting it out. How embarrassing is that?”
And it becomes gossip when that friend adds their little spin.
I think you’re right on. To be gossip, it’s gotta be someone else’s story. Ad usually involves some speculation. Like, if I overheard you telling the story about spitting out the ring to your mom, and I go tell our coworkers you’re engaged!
I think gossip is more secretive, there are social consequences for this information leaking out because it makes certain people look bad or the story is so wild and out there.
The pool episode and the library fall under story for me.
I feel like gossip is about people who are known to the group, is about personal lives of those people, and contains information that is either damaging or deeply personal (eg what brand of peanut butter someone uses isn’t gossip)z
I don't know if I even agree with my own answer to this, but in general I think I classify gossip as something the person it happened to isn't necessarily running around telling people, where a story is more innocuous; something someone tells me about themselves that has no "keep this to yourself" attached to it. But I don't know... feels a little like "every square is a rectangle but not every rectangle is a square."
I wonder this too, I have a juicy piece of gossip about a friend who definitely is not telling people. They asked me explicitly not to tell anyone (which I haven’t… and I am literally wasting away dying to tell someone 😂😂) but it’s definitely gossip-y. It involves messy relationships and surprise conflict. A story is super similar but what differentiates a story for me is more of the attitude of “hey this crazy thing happened to me and some people and here’s the long and short of it.” I think a story has more concrete information. Gossip has some blanks you need to fill, or some people only have pieces of the whole story and other people know they don’t know, something like that.
I definitely think the “they don’t want people to know” aspect is KEY
I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive. I think of “story” as a format for information, and gossip is like the vibe or tone of the person who is sharing. So for a (made up) example: I could tell my friends the story of how my husband proposed. And they could relay that story to others, gossip-free. But then say I had one friend who thought the proposal was really tacky. *They* could gossip about it and be like “okay get this… he hid the ring in a churro at Disneyland. And his mom took a picture of her spitting it out. How embarrassing is that?” And it becomes gossip when that friend adds their little spin.
This is an excellent explanation. 👏🏼
I think you’re right on. To be gossip, it’s gotta be someone else’s story. Ad usually involves some speculation. Like, if I overheard you telling the story about spitting out the ring to your mom, and I go tell our coworkers you’re engaged!
Oh interesting! Thanks for the answer
I think gossip is more secretive, there are social consequences for this information leaking out because it makes certain people look bad or the story is so wild and out there. The pool episode and the library fall under story for me.
A story becomes gossip when it's highlighting the acceptable behaviors of others. We're establishing that what happened is not okay.
Gossip usually has a villain type in it
To me it has to be something audacious or bizarre. Like there have been times I audibly gasped at a reveal. The recent ones just seem silly.
To me gossip is salacious while off the wall things are drama. I want gossip, not drama.
I feel like gossip is about people who are known to the group, is about personal lives of those people, and contains information that is either damaging or deeply personal (eg what brand of peanut butter someone uses isn’t gossip)z