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There is malice enough in gossip, but most of it is the purest kind of mental and emotional satisfaction. . . . The stories which we tell about ourselves and our friends make up the ephemeral, yet real prose literature of daily life (DeWitt H. Parker, Principles of Aesthetics [1946, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc.], p. 231). It is important to note that gossip is one thing, spite and calumny quite other things. Tennyson, in Maud, writes of a village which "bubbles o'er like a city, with gossip, scandal, and spite." Spite is saying anything, whether true or false, for the purpose of irritating, hurting, or creating friction or ill will against someone. Conversationally it is in bad taste; morally it is a sin against charity. Slander and calumny are statements about anyone which are not only |
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