Possible gossip?

[tdakers]

Question about gossiping. Wife said that something happened to someone at work (no name btw) I was just curious and said what. Only after that I thought it might be gossipy. I even said ehh but listened because I didn’t want to be rude and save the conversation by saying that hopefully something good comes out of that situation. Would that be considered gossip or am I just being scrupulous?

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Sounds like just curiousity to me. Having questions while listening to a story is natural. You weren’t delighting in some scandal and it’s not like you ran off to tell everyone.

 

[GladTidings]

I guess only you can answer that question, because only you and Jesus know your heart.

If you found some kind of pleasure knowing that something bad happened to someone, then it might be gossip. Especially if you then relive that feeling by sharing the gossip with someone else.

 

[tdakers]

@DisorientingSneeze that’s absolutely true I didn’t think about that. I did not take pleasure in knowing that something bad happened to someone!

 

[po18guy]

From Servant of God Fr. John Hardon’s Catholic Dictionary:

" GOSSIP. Idle talk, especially about others. The morality of gossip is determined by the degree to which time is wasted in useless conversation, by the failure in justice or charity committed against others, and by the damage done to people’s reputation by those who gossip."

“Idle” “wasted” and “damage” are the keys here.

 

[Irishmom2]

@tdakers, I think a wife telling her husband what happened at work is not gossip. She is telling you about something that happened in her day. If you said hopefully something good will come out of it, that was not malicious, even if what she was telling you was something “bad” that someone did.

 

[Zach]

If it wasn’t malicious it was gossip and not detraction. If you didn’t dwell on the gossip and if you changed the subject quickly, and didn’t take pleasure in it, and don’t intend to pass it along it’s probably ok. Gossip is not a good habit to get into though because it could easily turn into something you’d dwell on, take pleasure in and pass it along.

 

[tdakers]

@Zach what is the difference between gossip and detraction? One is idle chit chat and the other is malice conversations

 

[Zach]

I’m not sure there is much of a difference. If there is it’s a difference of degree. In your case you didn’t even know the name of the person and it was your wife talking about her day. Now if you knew the person and dwelled on it and took pleasure in it and if it was malicious and you intended to pass it along that would be different.