“This might be gossip, but did you hear…..?” Those words spilled from of my mouth as my friend and I sat on her living room couch. I repeated what I’d been told about a mutual friend, someone we’d both known many years.
My friend and I had heard slightly different versions of what had happened and after a few minutes of conversation, we agreed the how didn’t matter, the outcome was the same. And we both wished the outcome had been different. We wished our friend was happy and healthy, not as she is and we talked about how we could help her family.
Gossip brings people together and creates community. Yet, most people think gossip is unkind and malicious, but, originally, gossip carried a positive meaning.
The origin of gossip is the Old English word godsibb. A word composed of God and the adjective sibb, meaning a relative, anyone who was kin. It also referred to someone who was a sponsor, a spiritual support, a godfather or godmother to a person being baptized.
A reliable source stated that during pre-historic times talk among friends and family, was a way to find suitable mates and encouraged stronger friendship and alliances. The word godsibb came to mean talking about others who weren’t present, as well as sharing recent happenings, thoughts and opinions.
Writings from the 1300s show that gobsibb was often used to identify women friends who were present at a birth. A child’s birth was a social event and friends spent hours talking among themselves and giving moral support to the mother during her labor.
Anthropologists say that gossip was a bonding agent to women in societies where they were granted little power.
It’s not known exactly how gossip took on a negative connotation and how the word became associated with women, but through centuries, that’s what happened. So much so, that when we women talk about anyone and anything, we’re labeled as gossips. When men talk, it’s called networking or lobbying.
A 2019 study reported by BBC.com found that workers, men and women, gossip about 52 minutes a day. Most conversations weren’t positive or negative, but neutral. Gossip helps workers realize shared values and experiences and bring workers closer. Office workers might call this ‘water cooler talk’; teachers call it ‘playground talk.’ The study concluded that gossip is a good thing.
By Webster’s definition, gossip is talk about other people, sometimes involving details that are not confirmed as truth. The word gossip does make us think of people who maliciously talk about people and like to spread rumors, but when a conversation about other people isn’t harmful and mean, it is good.
I wish the Old English word godsibb had survived through the centuries. With all its negative connotations, no one wants to be labeled a gossip. But calling someone a gobsibb -wouldn’t that be a compliment?
When my friend and I talked about our friend, was that good or bad? It was good, and maybe I should have said, “This is godsibb. Did you hear…..?”
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Susan Writes 
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