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The article about gossip in the July magazine caught my attention.
I was reminded that the origin of the word ‘gossip’ lies in the words god sith, meaning good friend, from the English of the Middle Ages.
‘Gossips’ were the people you felt most at home with, people you could trust.
By the middle of the sixteenth century though, the word had come to have the meaning we associate with it now – the last people you want to have dealings with.
There is a poem from an Arabian source which contains some helpful hints about how we could restore the credibility of gossip:
If you are tempted to reveal
A tale to you someone has told
About another, make it pass,
Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates: first, ‘Is it true?’
Then, ‘Is it needful?’ In your mind
Give truthful answer. And the next
Is last and narrowest, ‘Is it kind?’
And if to reach your lips at last
It passes through these gateways three,
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be.