Gossip

Post 76 Grapevine

Grapevine is used to denote information or gossip, passed unofficially from person to person, that is difficult to trace. It starts and climbs in all directions like a grapevine. For example one may hear about the promotion of one’s colleague through the grapevine.

There is a Chinese idiom on roadside gossip. (dao ting tu shuo道听途说)
Two men, Ai Zi and Mao Kong, were gossiping. Mao told Ai, “There is a duck which has laid a hundred eggs in a day.” Ai did not believe and Mao said, “There could be two ducks.” When Ai still had doubt, Mao quickly added, “The eggs could possibly be laid by three ducks.” Mao topped up the number of ducks to ten but Ai still would not believe him.

Some time later, Mao told Ai, “A big slab of meat was dropped from the sky last month. It was 300 feet long and 200 feet wide.” Ai cast doubt on Mao who then said, “It was 200 feet long.” Again Ai did not believe him. When Mao said, “May be it was a hundred feet long”, Ai asked him, “Whose duck is it that laid the eggs?” Where did the meat fall?” Mao told Ai, “I heard them on the road from others.” Ai then told his accompanying students not to be like Mao who passed on roadside gossips.

The Chinese saying of “Rumours would stop at the wise” teaches us not to gossip.

4 January 2011