In Sissela Boks Secrets, she quotes the American Heritage Dictionary for the definition of gossip. It is defined as, trifling, often groundless rumor, usually of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature; idle talk. Gossips very nature brings along danger. People risk friendships, jobs, and other important parts of life everyday to engage in it. Where does an innocent conversation about current events cross over to gossip? Why participate in gossip? What makes it so dangerous? According to Bok, The seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New England Puritans illustrate in their writings the intensity with which human lives may be raked over, both in soul searching and in talking about the lives of others. Gossip entails talking about the lives of others. Telling a friend about another friend in Italy on a vacation does not fall under the category of gossip.