Rumor

A rumor or rumour (see spelling differences) is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern". However, a review of the research on rumor conducted by Pendleton in 1998 found that research across sociology, psychology, and communication studies had widely varying definitions of rumor.

In the social sciences, a rumor involves some kind of a statement whose veracity is not quickly or ever confirmed. In addition, some scholars have identified rumor as a subset of propaganda.

Rumors are also often discussed with regard to "misinformation" and "disinformation" (the former often seen as simply false and the latter seen as deliberately false, though usually from a government source given to the media or a foreign government). Rumors thus have often been viewed as particular forms of other communication concepts.

Early work

French and German social science research on rumor locates the modern scholarly definition of it to the pioneering work of the German William Stern in 1902. Stern experimented on rumor involving a "chain of subjects" who passed a story from "mouth to ear" without the right to repeat or explain it. He found that the story was shortened and changed by the time it reached the end of the chain. His student was another pioneer in the field, Gordon Allport.

Rumors (Lindsay Lohan song)

"Rumors" is a song by American actress and singer-songwriter Lindsay Lohan, taken from her debut studio album, Speak (2004). Originally titled "Just What It Is", the song was written and produced by Cory Rooney, while additional writing was done by Lohan, Taryll Jackson, and TJ Jackson. It was released as Lohan's debut single and lead single from the "Speak" on September 21, 2004, through Casablanca Records. The song's lyrics allude to the constant paparazzi and media backlash regarding Lohan. Music critics reviews were mixed; with statements like "infectious" or "unnecessary".

"Rumors" achieved moderate commercial success worldwide, reaching top thirty positions in Australia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. In the United States, the song peaked at number six on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, but was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping over 500,000 units of the single. The music video directed by Jake Nava featured Lohan attending a club, playing around with the paparazzi. The video was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards and reached the top position on MTV's Total Request Live. In 2014 Billboard ranked the song in its "Top 50 Forgotten Gems From the Now! Series", which list songs from the series that were underrated at the time of their release.

Rumours (Glee)

"Rumours" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American musical television series Glee, and the forty-first overall. The episode was written by series co-creator Ryan Murphy, directed by Tim Hunter, first aired on May 3, 2011 on Fox in the United States, and it features the return of guest star Kristin Chenoweth. In "Rumours", the glee club is swept by rumors that strain the friendships and relationships of the members, so director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) has them perform songs from Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours. The episode is a tribute to that album, and all the songs covered in the episode are from it. This generated strong interest in the album: Rumours reentered the Billboard 200 chart at number eleven the week after the show was aired in the US, and the Australian album charts at number two five days after the show was aired in that country.

The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Amy Reiter of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the episode had its moments that made lovin' Glee fun", but called the Sue Sylvester subplot "tired". Many critics were impressed with how well the album's music was incorporated into the episode including Erica Futterman of Rolling Stone, who wrote "the songs of Rumours fit the New Directions' drama in an organic way." The "Fondue for Two" segments were a favorite of reviewers, and were developed from an idea by one of the show's fans.