Gossip Even if you've never taken a class in 18th century Russian history, you've probably heard the story about Catherine the Great. According to the lore, Catherine Ⅱ, Empress of Russia, died under questionable circumstances involving a horse. If you ask someone who has a fondness for history or urban legends, though, you'll learn that the story isn't tree. Catherine Ⅱ really died of a stroke, and no horses were present. Introduction The story of Catherine the Great and the horse isn't a recent invention—it started out as gossip more than 200 years ago. It's not just a juicy story it's a good illustration of the nature of gossip. It's almost impossible to figure out who told the story first. Historians believe that the French upper class created the rumor in an attempt to destroy Catherine's reputation. It started ms a malicious(用意歹毒的) attempt to slander(诽谤) someone and possibly to improve the social standing of the people who made up the story. When people repeat it today, they believe it is true, in spite of its inherent outlandishness(古怪). The tale is persistent and widespread. It's stayed around for hundreds of years, and no matter how many historians refute it, people still pass it on. It's the kind of news most people can't help spreading around, even if they've resolved to spend less time gossiping. Even though some of the details might have changed, the core of the story is the same as it was 200 years ago. In this respect, real gossip is different from the 'telephone game' often used to teach children about its hazards. However, unlike the story of Catherine Ⅱ, not all gossip is malicious or untrue. Like swearing, another use of language many people try to avoid, gossip plays a number of roles within social groups, and some of them can actually be useful. Sociologists, linguists, psychologists and historians are among the people who research gossip and how it functions in society. It's a tricky phenomenon to study, though. People usually gossip spontaneously and in private, so it's almost impossible to study gossip in a laboratory setting. In fact, many researchers study gossip by eavesdropping(偷听) on gossipers. In addition, when researchers study gossip, they don't all use the same definition. Most start with the same basic idea: Gossip is a conversation between two people that concerns a third person who is not present. Different researchers then add a range of stipulations. The conversation takes place in private. The people-talking are transmitting information as though it were fact, but they have not confirmed the information as factual. The people gossiping and the person being gossiped about know each other in real life. By this definition, celebrity gossip is not really gossip unless the speaker and the listener are friends with the celebrity in question. Something in the speaker's body language or tone of voice suggests a moral judgment about the information being relayed. For example, the sentence 'Clara got a puppy' sounds pretty neutral. But if Clara lives in a college dorm that doesn't allow pets and the person speaking sounds scandalized, the sentence becomes gossip. The people gossiping compare, themselves in some way to the person being gossiped about, usually considering themselves to be superior to the subject. Gossip is full of contradictions. People do it even though they think they shouldn't. Gossip can bolster(助长) one person's reputation while destroying another's, and it can establish a trusting bond between two people while betraying the trust of a third. People who gossip too much can develop a reputation for being untrustworthy or too talkative. But people who don't gossip can develop a reputation for being distant, uptight or snobbish.