Gossip

The word gossip may refer to:

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• the act of spreading news from person to person, especially rumors or private information: see chat
• the news spread through the act of gossiping

While gossip forms one of the oldest and (still) the most common means of spreading and sharing information, it also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information thus transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature. Compare conversation.

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Gossip has recently come into the academy as a fruitful avenue of study, particularly in light of its relationship to both overt and implicit power structures. Compare discourse.

Related Topics:
Academy - Power - Discourse

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Some newspapers carry "gossip columns" which retail the social and personal lives of celebrities or of élite members of a local community.

Related Topics:
Gossip column - Celebrities - élite

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Gossip: Etymology ►