History Main / GossipEvolution

* In the {{Discworld}} book ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', Vimes--with help, including a trained assassin and some tactical planning--dispatches seven bandits in a shot; however, as he [[LampshadeHanging predicts]], the rumor spreads faster and wider, eventually coalescing around "he killed thirty men - and a dog."

[[quoteright:410:[[NormanRockwell http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gossip_norman_rockwell1.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:410:She told him that they said he knows what she learned about him saying I did ''what?'']]

* Aang of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' seems to think it plausible that this might have happened with a fairly routine kids' game, telling such a story to stop two groups arguing over past history to start making peace. To be fair, they ''did'' believe it.
** To be clear, though: he made his "original" story up from whole cloth. For all we know, one of the feuding clans' versions might have actually been true, or they might be complete legends with no "real" events at all.

[[NormanRockwell http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gossip_norman_rockwell1.jpg]]

* Anonymous communities tend to spawn this, when the discussion of said communities involves actual people. A very notable example is the Tanuki community, a splitoff from the Japanese 2Channel ImageBoard, originally created to discuss VisualKei. It managed to become a discussion of VisualKei and hard rock ''artists'' by their groupies, [[MoneyDearBoy mitsukano]], assorted fantasists and haters, and eventually themselves and their competitors. Sadly, this means that much information that is not, to some degree, BlatantLies or AstroTurf has at least undergone this to some degree.

* May or may not have happened in ''FindingNemo'', since we don't hear the full story when it's told the first ''or'' last time, ''and'' what we actually hear from the final version has really happened. However, it's phrased so that Marlin sounds like a total {{badass}}, when in reality he's more of an ActionSurvivor and, let's be honest here, a coward.

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.

* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1851#comic This]] Saturday morning breakfast ceral comic shows how we got from 'love and tolerance' to 'god hates fags'.

* Done in ''FindingNemo'', where Marlin's account of his travels grows with each retelling until he sounds like a total {{badass}} by the time it reaches his son.
** Except he ''did'' [[spoiler:blow up sharks and brave the monster-filled abyss and defeat the jellyfish forest!]]

** However, this trope is subverted in the fourth book, where Harry gets teleported to Voldemort, and Voldemort kills Cedric and tries to kill Harry. When Harry manages to make it back to Hogwarts, nobody believes him. At all. Seriously, what the hell guys?
*** Especially since at the beginning of the novel, at the Quidditch World Cup, there were wild rumors about Voldemort coming back ''after just one Dark Mark'', even though there was absolutely no evidence of a Death Eater casting it. And then Harry Potter, who confirmedly had beat Voldemort coming back twice, comes back dragging a ''dead body'' -- with evidence ''under Veritaserum'' -- and nobody believes him.
**** Well, they might have believed him if Fudge hadn't brought along a Dementor which drained the culprit's soul, thus losing the only proof they had.

** Another ([[CrowningMomentOfFunny particularly hilarious]]) example is in "The PTA Disbands", where Bart tries to prolong the teachers' strike by spreading the rumor that Skinner has been saying that the teachers will crack any day now. By the time it reaches Ms. Krabappel, it is entirely unchanged... except it incongruously includes the words "purple monkey dishwasher" at the end. Krabappel vows that they'll show Skinner, "especially for that purple monkey dishwasher remark!"
*** The words "Purple Monkey Dishwasher" have become somewhat of a [[MemeticMutation meme]].
*** Wouldn't a meme also be an example of the trope?

Compare SnowballLie, as well as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_game Telephone Game]].

* Done for comedy in ''BoyMeetsWorld'' a few times. One notable went from, by way of NoodleIncident, "Topanga is pregnant" to" Cory and Topanga are looking to adopt a kid from China and need to overcome the language barrier". When Mr. Feeney informs Cory of this, he gives the original rumor in front of his parents, prompting Feeney to leave so that he may "inform the grocer about his misinformation." Point of referance, Topanga was never pregnant, but just going on a diet.

Painfully common among certain political circles who shall be collectively known as "low-information voters", and beloved of the demagogues who rely on them for their paychecks.

* On ''[[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} 30 Rock]]'', Liz and Tracy started a rumor that rapper T.I. might show up at Kenneth's party in order to get people to come. By the time it got back to them, the word was that Kenneth was going to have an epic bash with T.I., Fall Out Boy and foxy boxing. Tracy hilariously didn't recognize it as his own rumor.

* In ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]'', after clearing the mines random {{NPC}}s will describe the PC's party as nine-foot tall superstrong and supermagical people. The player has the option to cop to being the heroes (they're not believed), or add that "I heard these heroes are handsome to boot."

* This troper recalls reading a story about a boy whose mother sent him to buy some bread in town. On the way, he chased away a squirrel that frightened a woman, and before he made it into town, the story had spread and turned into him driving away a werewolf and saving the whole town. So the townspeople throw him a parade and give him a medal, then send him home to tell his mother how brave he was. But she was just annoyed (since the boy had no idea why any of that happened) that he apparently spent the money on a medal instead of bread.

* ''The Bravest Little Tailor'''s misadventures started by when he bragged about killing seven flies with one swipe, but the time the King hears about it, it becomes "Killing Seven Giants in One Stroke".

** However, this trope is subverted in the fourth book, where Harry gets teleported to Voldemort, and Voldemort kills Cedric and tries to kill Harry. When Harry manages to make it back to Hogwarts, nobody believes him. At all. Seriously, what the hell guys.

'''Homer Simpson''': Wait a minute. Bart's teacher is named Krabappel? I've been calling her Krandel! Why didn't someone tell me? Ohh, i've been making an idiot of myself!\\

'''Homer Simpson''': Wait a minute. Bart's teacher is named Krabappel? I've been calling her Krandel. Why didn't someone tell me? Ohh, i've been making an idiot of myself!\\

-->'''Milhouse Van Houten''': ... and Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel were kissing -- and swearing!\\

'''Lisa Simpson''': I was in the library at the time, but Janey told me that Principal Skinner and Bart's teacher, Mrs. -- what's her name? ... They were naked in the closet together.\\
'''Ralph Wiggam''': Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and then the baby looked at me.