Monday, April 5, 2010

Gossip

Three ways to stop it. (A MUST READ.) As etiquette consultant Patricia Rossi so aptly describes:

We’re talking about Gossip. We have all done it or cracked our necks in half, craning to hear it. Let’s square off with ourselves to eradicate gossip from our lives. We especially need to cut loose the slippery fancy forms of gossip we use to seem sympathetic, concerned, or to deem our gossipy selves innocent.

Example: “That poor Ted, bless his heart, sure is ballooning up. He needs to back away from the buffet,” or, “Please pray for Sally. She’s on her fourth plastic surgery and starting to look like a drag queen!”

No matter how we dress it up with feigned concern, and/or, “Bless their hearts,” it’s still gossip.

We need to take responsibility. We need to rid our lives of this most pernicious of vices.

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2 comments:

Julygirl said...

There are levels of gossip from idle banter about others (everyone does it), idle banter about the PRIVATE affairs of others (uncool), to viscious rumor mongering with the intent of destroying someone's reputation(vile).

Anonymous said...

She makes good points. I also use the opportunity to set people straight when someone says something uncharitable to me about a friend. By defending the person who is not there, it also has the same affect of stopping them in their tracks, and hopefully gets them to see the good in the other person, or to at least realize that their cross is heavy, as ours all is.