To answer why humans gossip, the definition of “gossip” must be given to approach this properly. Oxford Languages defines the definition as “casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” Now, I believe that humans gossip because it is a part of our social nature. Unless people are perfectly selfish and will only talk about themselves and their interests for an entire intimate conversation, then the odds are that they will talk about their surroundings and things they have in common to feel a connection with each other. Often, gossip can have no harmful intent and is used to inform someone and create an intimate bond with them based on the privacy of the information distributed. Gossip and spreading rumors are often confused as gossip is not necessarily spreading untrue information; however, the validity of a rumor is inherently dubious. I believe both can be harmful, but I want to make the distinction between the two, as gossip is not always a rumor.