Do you remember playing telephone as a child? A simple sentence passes through enough people and gets contorted in strange and unnatural ways. The “Grapevine” is exactly the same thing, only rather than a bunch of children giggling over nonsense, you have adults sharing one another’s secrets. Oh Grapevine, I love you.

That said, I’m not a rumor-monger. Starting rumors is a terrible thing, and listening to rumors that are obviously false doesn’t do anybody any good, so I recommend running anything you hear through your own bullshit-filter, and keeping it largely to yourself if it could hurt anyone. No one likes it when they hear a rumor that they’ve been doing coke. Particularly if the only coke they’ve ever been anywhere near is soda-pop. However, the simple fact remains that talking about the other people is a time honored bonding tradition, and not one that is likely going to disappear at any point. 

The Grapevine varies in size and shape, and everyone is part of at least a couple. You’ve got the close friends, who talk about each other and those they are not as close too, and then the less close friends, who do not (generally speaking) discuss their inner circle, but will happily talk about anyone else, and so on and so on. Hell, Talk Shows and the rest of daytime television are nothing but an extended Grapevine. We exist to permeate the knowledge and gossip (history is just old gossip) through society. So next time you hear people shooting the shit, remember to love your local grapevine, and that if you’ve got it in a stranglehold, nothing bad about you will fill it.