quidnunc.

[kwid-nuhngk]

noun

1. a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip; a gossip or busybody.

Did you guys hear the news about the quidnunc? Yeah, me neither. I try to not be one. I know at times though, I soak it up like a brand new sponge that’s been waiting for a purpose. Usually when I’m sitting at a coffee house alone, I can’t help but listen to the folks next to me. This instant, for instance, two gals are having a heated discussion. So-and-so dated and really liked so-and-so-jerk who dumped her because he liked “really petite girls only.” This made me feel guilty for being so petite and sitting so close to this nearly 6′ tall girl, as if rubbing in my under-five-feet stature. She then started talking about short folks as if they were the worst possible kind of people.

“I do NOT like her. I do not like her or the other one. Who’s the other one? There’s two of them. One with glasses and one…there are two of them I do not like.”

If I were a character in a movie, I’d write down my phone number and set it on their table before leaving and say, “Please give this to the fella you’ve been talking about.”