Let’s take a closer look at how to talk about other people’s private lives or simply put: how to gossip. Have you heard any rumour lately? Is there any interesting piece of news (which may or may not be true) that you really want to share with someone else?
Then let’s see how do you do it… In order to start this kind of conversation, you surely need a phrase that can make your story exciting!
Starting the conversation
“Do you want to hear some gossip?”
“Have you heard about Mary?”
“Have you heard the latest gossip?”
“You’ll never guess what I saw last week!”
Gossip can make an exciting conversation. You can use “You’ll never guess…” when you want to introduce some exciting news or gossip. Here’s a practical example: “You’ll never guess what I’ve just heard! You know Tom and you know Ann? They’re seeing each other!“.
Now you also need to keep your audience’s attention. Below is a list of some great “keep listening” phrases that you can use in your conversation or even in your writing, if you want it to sound more conversational!
Building up the excitement
“Can you believe it?”
“Just look how it turns out to be…”
“And that’s not everything yet….”
“But it gets worse…”
“Wait, there’s more…”
“We’re not through yet…”
“And that’s just for starters…”
“It gets even better…”
But you need to be careful too. Remember you don’t want people to find out you have been gossiping about them. If you don’t want to be caught chit-chatting, you need a phrase like one of these:
Keeping it secret
“Listen, don’t tell anyone else, ok, because if word gets out people will know it’s me who told you!”
“Don’t tell anyone you know. I don’t want to spread the gossip.”
“But hey, keep it under your hat!”
“Obviously, you didn’t hear that from me!”
Remember: besides the appropiate vocabulary, variety in vocal pitch and facial expression are also very important!
That’s all about gossiping now! Next time you have some juicy gossip I hope you have the right phrases to tell someone. But whatever you do, don’t tell anyone I told you.
