You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip

by Kelsey McKinney

In the beginning were the words, and the words were gossip, and the gossip was words. While other species can communicate with one another, none can weave tales the way we can. Researchers estimate that people developed the ability to speak at least 200,000 years ago, and as previously noted, Robin Dunbar in Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language argues that language is a human substitute for grooming one another. Dunbar’s position is that language evolved in the first place to enable humans to socially bond through gossiping, which allows us to maintain social coherence in large groups and to create connections with one another while also being productive in other ways. Gossiping also has the advantage of being a group activity: you can tell a story to several people at once, therefore bonding yourself to all of them.