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grapevine

(grāp'vīn') pronunciation

A vine on which grapes grow.
1. The informal transmission of information, gossip, or rumor from person to person.
2. A usually unrevealed source of confidential information.

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Business Dictionary: Grapevine

Unofficial path of verbal communication. Rumors or scuttlebutt are spread from person to person through an informal network.

Word Origin: grapevine

Origin: 1848

First came the telegraph, then the grapevine. In fact, one led to the other. This would seem to reverse the natural order, in that Mother Nature grew grapevines long before Samuel Morse strung the first telegraph wire from Washington to Baltimore in 1844. And Americans talked of grapevines long before then too; there is mention of "grape Vines" in Rhode Island in 1654. But it was the likeness--and unlikeness--of grapevines to telegraph wires that inspired the modern use of grapevine to refer to the means by which unofficial news and rumors are spread.

In contrast to the straight copper wire of the telegraph, a grapevine is gnarled and twisted. So the grapevine telegraph, as it was originally called, was also gnarled. Like Morse's telegraph, it was speedy and carried news, but unlike the Morse telegraph, it operated privately and by word of mouth. Public and official news zipped along the telegraph wires; nearly as quickly went the person-to-person reports of the grapevine.

Since the grapevine was clandestine, we do not know when it was first used, but the late 1840s is a safe guess. There is a printed report in 1852 declaring, "By the Grape Vine Telegraph Line...we have received the following." In Up from Slavery (1901), Booker T. Washington marvels at how rapidly slaves in the South got news about the abolition movement, Lincoln's campaign for the presidency, and the Civil War through the "grape-vine telegraph."

Coming from unofficial and often unknown sources, news on the grapevine was properly viewed with skepticism. Soldiers in the Civil War used grapevine to mean "gossip" and "rumor," news that was not to be trusted. Around the same time, out in California, grapevine telegraph meant "a Bogus (1797) or tardy source of information." A newspaper that suspected a rival publication of inventing fictitious reports would accuse it of using the grapevine telegraph instead of the real thing.

The telegraph now is in disuse, but in this era of instant electronic communication, the grapevine is stronger than ever, efficiently circulating news, gossip, and rumor in an organization or community outside of official channels.

Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Grapevine

(1) Former monthly newsletter of the Psychic Information Exchange. Included articles on the paranormal, self-development lessons, notices of meetings, and book reviews. Apparently no longer active.

(2) Monthly newsletter of the Movement for a New Society, de-voted to alternative and nonviolent living. Last known address: 6722 Baltimore Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19143.

Wikipedia: grapevine (gossip)

See also Chinese whispers.

To hear something through the grapevine is to learn of something informally and unofficially by means of gossip and rumour.

The usual implication is that the information was passed person to person by word of mouth, perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues. It can also imply an overheard conversation or anonymous sources of information. For instance "I heard through the grapevine that Brad was getting fired."

A study quoted in Forbes magazine concludes that 75 percent of employees hear about matters first through rumors on the grapevine. Robbins states that rumors flourish in an organization because of three elements. They are a response to situations that are important to employees, where there is some ambiguity, and under conditions that arouse anxiety. From a management perspective, the grapevine acts as a filter and a feedback mechanism to identify issues that employess consider important and relevant.

According to Robbins, the grapevine in an organization has three significant characteristics.

It is not controlled by formal management.
Most employees perceive it to be more believable and reliable than formal communication issued by top management.
It is largely used for the self-interests of the people within the organization.

The term gained a boost in popularity through its use in the Motown song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", a major hit single for both Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips in the late 1960s.

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Word Origin. America in So Many Words, by David K.Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grapevine (gossip)". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

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