Gossip

Gossip has probably been around as long as humans have had the ability to communicate by language. Some scientists have even proposed theories that the need to know who was going up and down in the social pecking order of the small groups of hunter gatherers that made up the basic units of early human societies contributed greatly to the development of language as we know it. Whilst the evidence for this is somewhat sketchy, it is undoubtedly the case that gossip of one sort or another is part of the glue that binds social groups together whether it be in the workplace or in the communities. Gossip in the workplace can often be a way of informally passing on information that enables colleages to have a better idea of how a firm is performing and informal systems of communication within the community can often be an early warning of developing problems as in the case of an older person whose health is deteriorating or a young person whose life is going off the rails.

The problem arises when gossip becomes malicious or in the case of some people, they start to believe that the lives of a family down the street, or in the next village, have about as much reality as the last episode of 'Eastenders'. To often these days, the line between reality and fiction gets increasingly blurred. People should remember that endless speculation about the lives ofthat in many cases they hardly know, can be hurtful and can sometimes have disasterous consequences. Perhaps in such situations the best advice is to do as you would be done by.