Broken Wing

Behind back talking

I don't understand what the big deal is about talking behind people's backs. People pretend like they really hate to do it right before doing it. Here is an example sentence - in parentheses is the unspoken meaning.
Irritating person: I don't want (people to think I like) to talk about <friend name> behind her back (,although I do it all the time anyways), but she is a huge slut.

Here is that same sentence as I would utter it:
Me: I like to talk about people behind their backs, and <friend name> is a huge slut.

Yeah, we all know somebody like this. I just don't understand why talking about someone behind their back is so bad. The only other options are talking about them in front of their back, or to the sides. I don't think the latter option really makes any sense, which leaves only talking about someone in front of their back. Thats just dangerous. Who wants to do that? There is another term for talking about someone in front of their back - an intervention. I think it makes more sense to talk degradingly about them behind their back with cohorts for a decent amount of time (10-20 years), if only to work up enough evidence for an intervention.

There is another positive side to talking about people behind their backs. If a person blows off a commitment that other friends uphold, then the main topic of conversation among participating friends is required to be "How much of an a-hole our no-show friend is." Its an unwritten rule of friendship. Well, prior to this blog entry it was unwritten. I guess from now on it will be referred to as an "Until recently unwritten rule." Posted by mill1991 at June 28, 2004 9:07 PM