If you can't say anything nice...
Gossip is a flesh-eating bacterium, according to our friends in Uganda.
There is a disease in our societies that is spreading like a plague, devastating whoever comes its way, trampling over green and dry regardless of social stature or position. It is a man made disease called gossip! Have you ever wondered where the word gossip comes from? One story is particularly interesting.
"The tale tells how politicians would send assistants to bars to sit and listen to general public conversations. The assistants had instructions to sip a beer and listen to opinions; they responded to the command to "go sip", which allegedly turned into "gossip".
Nafha Maani-Ebrahimi tells us more about how gossip ruined her friend Rose's life in the Kampala Monitor. The reference to necrotizing fasciitis is near the end. Bon appetit.
Comments
i'm the guest blogger on that item. as i'm a blognoramus, i can't tell you why it didn't post my name...
Posted by: slutwench | August 30, 2007 7:41 PM
Slutwench, I just fixed the guest-blogger-name-display thing. Sorry about that.
Posted by: Kevin Shay | August 30, 2007 7:56 PM
Oh, silly Kampala Monitor, spreading folk etymology like that. "Gossip" is descended from the Old English "godsibb" (godparent), according to Random House. I guess godparents used to be stereotyped as being terrible gossips?
Posted by: Francis | September 1, 2007 1:26 AM
You know, the Eskimo have 40 different words for gossip.
Posted by: Jim | September 2, 2007 3:08 AM