Gossiping is something that occurs within every high school. It's not something you can really stop. Uni, though, is such a small community that it feels like one small thing can travel throughout the entire school in the matter of a lunch period. Sometimes people I don't even know are talking about something I thought only pertained to me and my friends.

Many people have different views on gossip. For lots of people gossiping is a way to tell others that you're still "in the loop." You heard about a certain someone doing a certain something and you're compelled to pass it on to other people (whether they be your close friends or not). Lots of the time, though, it's a subconscious thing, especially for girls, where trading secrets seems to be a way of forming friendships and maintaining conversation.

I've heard girls complain that boys are just as much gossipers as girls are. Which may be true, though I've found that boys tend to be more straightforward whereas girls tend to be a little more catty. Sometimes it seems harsh, but it's not uncommon for a boy to say to another boy, "Shut up, no one likes you," whereas a girl might just roll her eyeballs and cross her arms and give a half-smile in your direction. If a boy doesn't like you, he isn't afraid to say it.

If a girl doesn't like you, she'll most likely be pretty calm to your face and pretty rude behind your back. If a boy asks a girl, "Are you ok?" and she raises her eyebrows and doesn't look at you … chances are that she isn't actually OK. It's all about reading body language, and I think since girls have been having to do that with each other longer than boys have, sometimes boys just don't get the hint. And this all derives from our gossiping patterns.

On top of that, I often hear girls complaining: "Why doesn't she just say it to my face if she has a problem? I would much prefer that!" Well, would you really prefer that over supposed rumors? It's a lot easier to say you would rather have a face-to-face confrontation, but when has it actually ever happened to you?

I think girls tend to be a lot more sensitive than most guys, or maybe it's a pattern of simply planning things out more. But it appears to me that, if it came down to it, so long as all the fighting consisted of rumors and gossip (and no real confrontation) then one girl could say, "Oh no! I never said it like that at all!" or "Someone totally misinterpreted what I said! Sorry!" and it could be over, whereas the face-to-face stuff reveals the true feelings of each person and often makes it harder for one side to apologize.

This leads in to my final point. Boys can deal with confrontation easier, maybe because they don't seem to hold things against each other. In the case of most girls they can apologize or make up or just simply drop the whole thing, but most likely they will never forget it. If there is another fight between the same people, old stuff will be brought up again. It's held against you for quite a while. If everything is just a rumor or gossip then you don't really have anything to hold against someone. There was nothing to validate it in the first place.

All schools deal with gossip, and it's not always fun to deal with. Sometimes it's better to sit back and instead just observe what really makes up "gossiping" … there are so many aspects!