Rumor
A rumor or rumour (spelling differs between American and British English) is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern" (33) However, a review of the research on rumor conducted by Pendleton in 1998 found that research across sociology, psychology, and communication studies had widely varying definitions of rumor.
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Famous quotes containing the word rumor:
“Overly persuasive a womans ordinance spreads far, traveling fast; but fast dying a rumor voiced by a woman perishes.”
—Aeschylus (525456 B.C.)
“I heard a bustling rumor like a fray,
And the wind blows it from the Capitol.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“Gossip, then, is content, a message about people; rumor is a process. It takes a bit of gossip and reshapes it, modifies it in some way, and passes it along from individual to individual in different ways.”
—Jack Levin (b. 1941)