有人认为，八卦和听谣言是人类的天性。有趣的是，人类学家已经确定，八卦和谣言对人类的生存至关重要，甚至有人推测，八卦是人类发展语言技能的主要原因。 自时间的黎明以来，八卦和谣言帮助我们在实际危害我们之前了解信息。往往，获悉这些信息被用作社会控制机制，帮助我们保持诚实和遵循规矩。 在社会控制以暴力形式出现之前，八卦和谣言是我们的第一道防线。如今，提前了解信息使我们能够做好准备，如果信息属实，我们可以找到理由，可以证明并以积极的方式框定我们的行动，以避免社会排斥。归属感是强大的人类需求。 “get wind”含义： 当我们听到某人不希望其他人知道的信息时，我们称之为“听到get wind”。 I got wind that Brenda is pregnant and she is not going to keep the baby. The military and the intelligence community get wind of a lot of information that has saved lives. 对话： BRIAN: LAST MONTH I GOT WIND THAT YEP COMPANY IS GOING TO GO PUBLIC. DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING? BLAKE: NOPE? WHO TOLD YOU THAT? BRIAN: DONNY BRUMP TOLD ME. BLAKE: DONNY, THE ONE FROM YEP COMPANY? BRIAN: YEPPERS, THAT’S THE ONE. HE SAID HE CAUGHT WIND OF IT FROM ONE OF THE EXECUTIVES HE OVERHEARD TALKING ABOUT IT WITH THE CEO. BLAKE: HMMM. I WOULD BE CAREFUL WITH INFORMATION YOU GET WIND OF FROM DONNY. FIRST OF ALL, HE HAS NOT BEEN SO RELIABLE. SECOND, THAT IS CLOSE TO INSIDER TRADING WHICH IS EXTREMELY ILLEGAL EVEN IF SOMEONE GOT WIND OF IT WITHOUT LOOKING FOR IT INTENTIONALLY. BRIAN: GOOD POINT, BLAKE. I GUESS YOU CAN BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU CATCH WIND OF! BLAKE: WELL, I THINK IT IS MORE THE SOURCE YOU ARE GETTING THE WIND FROM. SOMETIMES IS MORE FLATULENCE THAN TRUTH.