Gossip Evolution: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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Whenever tales are spread mouth to mouth, particularly among [[Gossipy Hens]], every speaker adds something of their own, going as far as changing a bar brawl into raging war between four largest nations of whichever world the story is placed into.
This trope is mainly about the process, but also describes the outcome, even if the process wasn't shown on screen. [[Shrouded in Myth]] is the outcome when this is used to exaggerate a character's [[Badass
The process is similar to a children's game, which goes by many names, such as Broken Telephone, Silent Post, Chinese Whispers and many more. In this game, one person in a line whispers a sentence into the next person's ear, and by the end of the line, the sentence has evolved into something unrecognizable, and probably lewd, too. When [[Played for Laughs]], the line will typically be incredibly small, such as around five people, while the final rumor will have nothing in common with the original.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* This is part of Shonen Bat's M.O. in ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'' -- {{spoiler|as stories of him spread and mutate, he becomes more firmly entrenched in Tokyo's collective consciousness, making him all the more dangerous.}}
* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': Kenshin Himura, better known as Hitokiri Battousai, actually is a fearsomely skilled as all the stories say. However, people look at the body count he's racked up and assume he must be this huge, intimidating, bloodthirsty hulk of a man, [[Shrouded in Myth|when he's actually a short, skinny
* An early chapter in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' had an overheard conversation regarding [[Battle Couple|Negi finding a Partner]] quickly evolve into a rumor about Negi being a visiting prince! {{spoiler|More than 200 chapters later, this turned out to be [[Foreshadowing]]}}.
* A ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'' audio play features a scene where the [[Five-Man Band]] and [[The Dragon]] engage in the standard shouting match...except that the latter is standing on Tokyo Tower's observation deck while the former is at the tower's base. Because of this, the banter quickly degrades into confusion.
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== Literature ==
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'',
* In [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s fairy tale "It's Perfectly True!", some literal [[Gossipy Hens]] pass around what becomes the story of five hens plucking all their feathers off and dying for the love of a rooster, though it started with nothing more than one hen removing just one feather.
* This happens with [[The Gunslinger|Matthew Stark]] in ''[[Cloud of Sparrows]]''. He kills a number of men, and is witnessed a few times. Stories grow in the telling, so that it gets to the point where people think Matthew Stark is eight feet tall with a scar across one eye, never eats and only drinks whiskey, prefers beating women to shagging them, and only shags them when he's beaten them to within an inch of their lives. In fact, the real Stark is able to move around unnoticed simply by calling himself Matthews.
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* The children's book ''Hen Hears Gossip'' involves this, with Hen, who started the gossip by repeating what she "overheard," finding the message has turned into a slight against herself. Unlike in most stories, the characters follow the gossip train back to each source until they discover what the original message was.
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' features various examples, notably the gossip that spreads in the city Minas Tirith about the various going-ons and visiting protagonists.
* Both the tree people and cave dwellers in the [[Green-Sky Trilogy]] are inclined to this. With no written media to speak of, nearly all communication is by word of mouth. Raamo knows himself to be a plain person, who with his friends makes some unusual
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== Video Game ==
* In ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'', after clearing the mines random [[NPC
* Varric of ''[[Dragon Age II|Dragon Age 2]]'' intentionally twists your story around, whether he's your best friend or your worst enemy. Eventually, you might hear that you managed to slay a High Dragon with a wooden spoon, while naked. It's hard to tell how much, if any of it, was exagerrated in ''re''-tellings, though.
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== Western Animation ==
* The titular character from ''[[Doug]]'' has a rumor that goes from Vice Principal Bone putting out a "supernova" cherry bomb science project... to Doug's science project (a model of a volcano) blowing up the entire science lab. Doug even thinks he's going to go to jail for it.
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', two feuding tribes each think that their ancestor was betrayed by the others' a hundred years ago. Aang, who was alive at this time, tells them it was just a game they were playing, and actually the ancestors were good friends despite their differences. This allows the two tribes to reconcile and continue their journey together. {{spoiler|This turns out to be an [[Invoked Trope]], as Aang made up the story entirely, believing that they would think
* ''[[Garfield and Friends|US Acres]]'' has Sheldon telling Booker about a scary story he heard from Orson, and this eventually turns into a rumor about a monster loose on the farm, which leads to Orson changing to his "Power Pig" alter-ego and attacking a scarecrow.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode ''Grade School Confidential'' Principal Skinner and Mrs Krabappel are caught kissing in a closet. The event undergoes a
{{quote|'''Milhouse Van Houten''': ...and then Bart opened the door and Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel were kissing -- and swearing!
'''Pahusacheta Nahasapeemapetilon''': Father! Uncle Apu! A teacher was in the closet with the principal and he had as many arms as Vishnu and they were all very busy.
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* This trope is instrumental in the creation of [[Urban Legend
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