Vocabulary about RUMORS

Rumors/ (malicious, vicious/ unconfirmed, unfounded/ strong, widespread, exaggerated, altered or

slight change) (ADJ)

Rumors (start/ fuel) (VERB)

Rumors (spread, hear, believe, deny, confirm, feed, squash, scotch, silence)(VERB)

Rumors (go around, be flying, be rife, spread like a wildfire, sweep sth) (VERB)

Rumors (about, surrounding, of)(PRE)

Rumor mill(factory) (NOUN)

1. Who (gossip)

Rumor-Monger. gossiped about, gossipers (gossipy person), a busybody=a blabbermouth. Nosy

person, sit around and do nothing.

hear from a birdie/ hear something on the grapevine

Gossiper instead of rumor monger => Especially this year, due to covid 19, everyone is in quarantine
=> I just stay at home and do nothing. Live on Internet and update my friends on what’s going on in
their life => Then tell other people their success or their achievement in this year and reflect myself:
I did not achieve anything in this year. So yeah => can call me a blabbermouth

2. Are there any malicious / unfounded rumors about you?

Run the gamut

Yes. Think

When I was in high school, my classmate fueled a rumor: arrogant => no one wanted to become friends
with person who had this character => This rumor swept my school, everyone looked at me as a mean
girl. There was a rumor mill in my school + this story became more serious cuz they exaggerated the
rumor: not only haughty but also has poor performance in education => run the gamut. In fact: got
highest score in the entrance examination transfer from secondary school to high school (58.8 out of 60)
=> At first, did not realize this situation cuz my life did not change too much, just some people gave me a
strange glance => After, heard from a birdie => I felt stressed and depressed, saw myself at that time as
the poorest vision of my life => I told my friends and they advised me that my life did not change much
even it happened earlier so why I would be sad when I heard the rumor on the grapevine. They said that
it was just about how I react to this problem, not because of the way they treated me => Did not care
about this and turned this rumor into my motivation to become better => haters can’t keep up with me.
I always believe that haters are envy with you because you are better than them. But if you are the best,
everyone has to admire you.

3. Why do people love to talk about others, and start rumors?

-to get attention/ to be the center of attention/ gain popularity/ climb the social ladder.
-to deflect attention from themselves
-to feel a sense of belonging to a group/community/ to be accepted or fit in with others
 -to gain power/ be in control/ diminish others’ power
-to revenge/ to get back at someone, make up stories or rumors/ satisfy the need for revenge
-to feel better/no drama=> shake things up, make up rumors, spice things up, make life more
interesting.

+ For rumormonger: Free time, envy with other people: Some people make up stories about rivals to
bring rivals down => people will have a sense of satisfaction when they can diminish rivals power

+ For a busybody: just for shaking their life up => when they have freetime: drama or rumor maybe a
thing that helps them to keep in touch with friends or keep their conversation with their friends long-
lasting.

4. What are the negative consequences of rumors?

-Destroy a person’s self-confidence/ affect self-esteem.

-Lead to depression, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders, anxiety, a host of other issues

-Ruin reputations, gain notoriety

-Lead to ostracizing behavior (turn against someone) and other forms of relational aggression

+ Definitely destroy a person’s self-confidence and, for a long time, lead to depression or even suicidal
thoughts. People who are the subject of the rumor usually reflect themselves, what are their fault and
how to change this situation. But even they change to make it better, no one recognizes it and they
continue to spread other rumors. I have a classmate who has a sweet voice and always as gentle as a
princess. There are my boys in my school liked her. However, the majority of students in my class are
girls so they don’t like anyone can be a center of the class. Then girls started a rumors and talked behind
her back => My friend gained notoriety and she felt anxiety, however, she did not have any friend at that
time, no one step in her life when she got trouble => she came to a standstill and ran out of her house 3
days and my teacher had to solve this problem in front of the class => sometimes, rumors can kill
people, should be aware of this

5. How to stop people from starting rumors?

- as for people who are the subject of a rumor/ don’t answer/ feed rumors/don’t share/ don’t

Share, don’t engage

-find out where the rumor comes from/ make it come to light/ enlighten someone about
something,

-enact a law aimed at gossipers and rumormongers if there are detrimental consequences

-freedom of expression

Don’t care about the rumor => You live your life, not anyone else