To begin with a psychological reason, the knowledge of another’s personal affairs can tempt the possessor of this information ① to repeat it as gossip because as unrevealed information it remains socially inactive. Only when the information is repeated can its possessor ② turn the fact that he knows something into something socially valuable like social recognition, prestige, and notoriety. As long as he keeps his information to ③ himself, he may feel superior to those who do not know it. But knowing and not telling does not give him that feeling of “superiority that, so to say, latently contained in the secret, fully ④ actualizing itself only at the moment of disclosure.” This is the main motive for gossiping about well-known figures and superiors. The gossip producer assumes that some of the “fame” of the subject of gossip, as ⑤ whose “friend” he presents himself, will rub off on him.

* prestige: 명성 ** notoriety: 악명 *** latently: 잠재적으로