Which of the words 'gossip', 'rumors', and 'scuttlebutt' do you use the most, and in what situations would you use each one?

I've never used the word "scuttlebutt" in my life and ♥️ it very rarely. It does have a fun sound though. I probably use (and hear) "gossip" and "rumours" about equally.

Scuttlebutt is only used by people in/used to be in the military from my experience. Or kids of military people.

I tend to call it “gossip” when it’s about someone personally involved - maybe the person I’m talking to, someone I know, or someone the person I’m talking to knows. “Tea” is also common slang for this. I tend to call it “rumors” when it’s more detached, and less personal. Maybe it’s about a thing / company / idea and not about a person, or maybe no one in the conversation knows the person. Maybe it’s about a celebrity or a movie project. I’ve only used “scuttlebutt” when I’m trying to be funny.

"Gossip" and "rumor" are both very common and not quite the same. Prototypically, "gossip" is about people's lives, especially their private lives, and is spread by word of mouth, though there are also magazines dedicated to gossip (tabloids). (Nowadays of course people gossip online all the time.) People gossip about other people, and spread gossip. Some people want to know the latest gossip (presumably either about their friends or about celebrities). It's also commonly regarded as a vice. It's usually not good to be *gossipy*, someone who is especially interested in trivial and/or private details about other people and particularly likes talking about such things. Rumors go around. "There's a rumor going around that..." is something I say with some frequency. It suggests that some people believe it, but it's not being officially stated anywhere, and it may or may not be true. It's unverified, and it's probably unclear where the supposed information came from. (Some of them come from "rumor mills" - groups or people that make lots of dubious claims, often with the hopes that they'll spread and be discussed.) Calling something a rumor encourages skepticism (especially if it's "just a rumor"), but rumors can also turn out to be ture. I've never used "scuttlebutt" and don't know what it means, alas.

I use rumors the most, gossip second, and I've never heard or seen scuttlebutt before. I use rumor when I'm referring to a specific rumor, probably one that is either malicious or othering in some way. "Rumor has it that so-and-so did such and such." "There's a rumor going around about you, ya know?" "Rumor has it you've been showing up early." Weirdly enough, I typically use gossip in a positive sense and usually only when referring to the concept in general. "So, what's the gossip?" "Oh, I love gossip!" "There's an awful lot of gossip going on around here." This is the only sense I would use scuttlebutt: "Scuttlebutt? Now you're just making words up. Cheeky scalawag."

To me, gossip is more stuff like what highschool kids do to each other. Rumors is the more general term.

I use gossip and rumors equally. To me, gossip is fluffier, more personal, even smaller scale. Like, you hear gossip from your friends about other friends and people gossip about celebrities. Rumors can be bigger and more serious. You can have rumors about politics and business. Usually, a serious topic would be subject to rumor, not gossip. Scuttlebutt is just funny to me. I’ve used it before, but only when I’m being silly or sarcastic about what’s being said.

I can not think of an example of anyone saying scuttlebutt in America. Gossip has a more negative and feminine connotation while rumors is still negative but more neutrally gendered. Rumors: most often, Gossip: “let’s gossip” jokingly, with female friends Scuttlebutt: weird, never

I’ve never heard or used scuttlebutt in my life. Gossip means to spread interesting information about people. In the past it had a negative connotation but I think in recent years it’s seen more positive light. It’s not necessarily reliable or completely factual but usually the main details will live. It usually goes like a game of telephone. Rumors are similar to gossip. It doesn’t have to be about people. It isn’t necessarily reliable, but it is being spread from person to person.

Don't forget tittle-tattle

I'm surprised so many people have never heard the term "scuttlebutt." I probably learned the word when I was little from books (as I learned a great many words); neither I nor my parents have ever been in the military, and while I dated someone who was in the navy once, I definitely learned and started using it long before that. I and a number of friends and coworkers do occasionally use it in conversation, usually in a playful way as noted by u/FloridaFlamingoGirl. The other thing I'd note about the terms' differences is that "rumor" and "scuttlebutt" are nouns meaning the information being passed around, while "gossip" is that plus the person doing the passing plus the verb for passing it around. A person who spreads rumors is a "rumormonger". "Scuttlebutt" has no specific perpetrator term I know of, but someone who passes scuttlebutt could be called either a gossip (if the information is thought to be correct) or a rumormonger (if the information is thought or known to be potentially false). A related term I've only heard more recently is "tea," with the act of spreading it being "spilling the tea." A couple of older slang terms for it are "skinny" and "dope".

Yeah, scuttlebutt is kind of a niche, playful slang term. Recently, people might associate it with the song from the live-action Little Mermaid movie.  Gossip is more used to refer to talking about someone behind their back.  Rumors would be used more to refer to unconfirmed pieces of information spread around. 

Gossip and rumor, rumor slightly more. I'm from USA, all over mostly MI, CA, HI and OH.

Never (UK) heard scuttlebutt used in real life. "Tea" is also not common in UK English. You won't really hear "spill the tea" in UK English (though you might hear "spill the beans") Rumours or gossip - gossip tending to be used for lighter, more personal (eg related to humans) stuff. For example I might not use gossip when discussing things I have heard a company might be doing, that would definitely be rumours. But if it was about someone's secret relationship that could definitely be gossip.

"Gossip" or "rumors", mainly. I like using slightly archaic words for fun, so I might use scuttlebutt, but not in a regular conversation. If you do, I'd just keep that tone in mind.

Scuttlebutt is fun, but is definitely antiquated, so I wouldn't anticipate a lot of people being aware. Gossip is generally from something you just heard, and rumors tend to be something that tend to be something that builds over time; rumor has it. **Example:** Gossip: I heard he drove her home. Rumor: I've heard he has a way with ladies. **Alternatives for gossip**: "hot goss" - known but rarely used outside of close groups. the tea ("what's the tea?""do you want to hear some tea?"). -

I use "scuttlebutt" or "hubub" at work. I relegate it to anything that I could have heard through walls/doors, but probably heard at the tail-end of the meeting after all the bosses leave. It's not necessarily information to be trusted, but when you hear it from a number of sources, it's hard to ignore.

we say tea now