DID SHE HAVE SEX WITH THREE MEN AT THE SAME TIME?

Still, for those who feel that the day has sagged a little unless they have received at least one e-mail containing the phrases “Have you heard?” and “OMG!!!!!!!!!”, there were many heartening facts in the piece. For while many regard gossip as idle, spiteful junk-chat, Scientific American stoutly places it as an evolutionary cornerstone of successful, socialised behaviour.

“The nasty side of gossip usually overshadows the more benign ways it functions in society,” Frank T. Andrew began. “But gossip can be a way of learning the unwritten rules of social groups and cultures ... [it is] a social bonding mechanism.” The article painted a picture of early man gathering to fight off a mammoth attack, pausing between axe-blows only to say: “I hear Johnson's wife had a Neanderthal baby. Johnson's gonna have to be asking some difficult questions ... when his vocabulary expands from 'Run!', 'Good food' and 'I sex your lady difference?', anyway.”

The Time
Nov 10 2008