Gossip
[1] The word is from Old English godsibb, from god and sibb, the term for the godparents of one's child or the parents of one's godchild, generally very close friends.
"[8] TLK Healthcare cites as examples of gossip, "tattletaling to the boss without intention of furthering a solution or speaking to co-workers about something someone else has done to upset us.
"[citation needed] Corporate email can be a particularly dangerous method of gossip delivery, as the medium is semi-permanent and messages are easily forwarded to unintended recipients; accordingly, a Mass High Tech article advised employers to instruct employees against using company email networks for gossip.
It is then left up to the authority in charge to fully investigate the matter and not simply look past the report and assume it to be workplace gossip.
[13][14] Philosophical analysis by Emrys Westacott points to the role of gossip in (for example) cementing friendships and combatting abuses of power.
In Thomas Harman's Caveat for Common Cursitors 1566 a 'walking mort' relates how she was forced to agree to meet a man in his barn, but informed his wife.
The wife arrived with her "five furious, sturdy, muffled gossips" who catch the errant husband with "his hosen [trousers] about his legs" and give him a sound beating.
[dubious – discuss] Judaism considers gossip spoken without a constructive purpose (known in Hebrew as "evil tongue", lashon hara) to be a sin.
Speaking negatively about people, even if retelling true facts, counts as sinful, as it demeans the dignity of man — both the speaker and the subject of the gossip.
As we harden our heart towards more people and groups, he continues, "this negativity and feeling of separateness will grow and permeate our world, and we'll find it more difficult to access God's love in any aspect of our lives.
"[28] The New Testament is also in favor of group accountability (Ephesians 5:11; 1st Tim 5:20; James 5:16; Gal 6:1-2; 1 Cor 12:26), which may be associated with gossip.
Gossip as a breach of secrecy has parallels with confession: the medieval Christian church sought to control both from its position as a powerful regulator.
According to Muslims, backbiting harms its victims without offering them any chance of defense, just as dead people cannot defend against their flesh being eaten.
Muslims are expected to treat others like brothers (regardless of their beliefs, skin-color, gender, or ethnic origin), deriving from Islam's concept of brotherhood amongst its believers.
Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith stated: "Backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguished the life of the soul.
"[31][dubious – discuss] From Robin Dunbar's evolutionary theories, gossip originated to help bond the groups that were constantly growing in size.
[33][36][37] Further support for the evolutionary significance of gossip comes from a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Anderson and colleagues (2011) found that faces paired with negative social information dominate visual consciousness to a greater extent than positive and neutral social information during a binocular rivalry task.
Binocular rivalry occurs when two different stimuli are presented to each eye simultaneously and the two percepts compete for dominance in visual consciousness.
Adds Block, "It is indeed difficult, then, to account for the vilification suffered by the blackmailer, at least compared to the gossip, who is usually dismissed with slight contempt and smugness."
