Difference Between Gossip and Rumor

Gossip vs Rumor

Gossip and rumors are both results of societal interaction that most people would like to avoid or fall victims to. However, there are some significant differences between the two terms.

Gossip refers to talking about someone or something with another person or a group of persons. Rumor refers to spreading specific information about someone or something that has not been verified. In other words, it may be a truth or a falsehood.

Most people indulge in some sort of gossip especially with their friends and families. It could be just expressing disapproval, sharing one’s discontent or opining one’s views about a certain action or a certain person. Indulging in such gossip is not considered very harmful as long as you do not influence the other people too much with your negative thoughts. For instance, commenting on the way a wedding was organized or conducted with your friends or family can be harmless gossip.

On the other hand, a rumor is spread by a person with a specific purpose in mind, most often which is maligning the character of the person involved. For instance, saying that somebody is accepting bribes or is pregnant without any true factual qualifications of the statement is a rumor. Corporate rumors are most often spread to increase or decrease the value of the company’s shares in the stock market or maligning a company’s reputation in front of its customers or suppliers.

People who indulge in gossip may just be doing it to while away their time or do some idle chit-chat with their friends. On the other hand, a person who intends to spread a rumor will seek out specific people and converse with them in order to put the rumor in the other people’s ears.

It is not necessary that all gossip is harmless and some in fact may end up hurting people who are the subject matter of gossip. People spreading rumors may also purposely indulge in gossip and pretend to do some light banter while actually introducing the rumor during conversations in an effortless manner.

Sometimes, gossiping is encouraged as it is a good way of understanding or knowing emotions, beliefs and opinions from grapevine. A lot of companies while discouraging official gossip may actually use the gossip topics circulating in the grapevine to understand the pulse of their employees, competitors and the market.

Summary:
1.Gossip is idle chit chat with a person or a group of persons about something or someone with no specific purpose or end-goal in mind. Rumor is a deliberate attempt to spread unverified facts or information about a person or thing with the intention of slander.
2.Gossip is considered to be less harmful than rumors though at times gossip can be hurtful too
3.A little bit of gossip is encouraged while rumors are generally discouraged.

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