theory of gossip

Gossip is a heffalump.

Read this passage; you'll see it.

One day, when Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet were all talking together, Christopher Robin finished the mouthful he was eating and said carelessly: "I saw a Heffalump to-day, Piglet."
"What was it doing?" asked Piglet.
"Just lumping along," said Christopher Robin. "I don't think it saw me."
"I saw one once," said Piglet. "At least, I think I did," he said. "Only perhaps it wasn't."
"So did I," said Pooh, wondering what a Heffalump was like.
"You don't often see them," said Christopher Robin carelessly.
"Not now," said Piglet.
"Not at this time of year," said Pooh.
Then they all talked about something else, until it was time for Pooh and Piglet to go home together.

[From "Chapter V In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump." Winnie-The-Pooh., by A.A. Milne, Copyright, 1926, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. Publishers: New York]
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> > > "So did I," said Pooh, WONDERING WHAT A HEFFALUMP WAS LIKE - !!

Therein lies the key to the Heffalump Theory Of Gossip.
Gossip happens, I believe, because of this precise situation -- a person says they saw something which they didn't really see only because, at that moment, they want to be part of the conversation.

The person gets drawn in. Some kind of human thing. Conversational togetherness. Wanting to belong, and to participate. Suggestibility.

When it comes to gossip, some people subscribe to the idea, "Where there's smoke there's fire."

Fire and smoke notwithstanding, I say:
Gossip is a heffalump.

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