That's true. We never know when even seemingly fun gossip can turn into a baseless rumor. And I'm also not entirely absolved of this habit either. As I mentioned in my blog, the temptation to engage in gossip and paint someone in a negative light is often there, especially when underlying emotions are involved. But we need to have a reality check now and then.

As a mom of a teenage daughter, I'm sometimes at my wits' end when something like this happens. We can't control how people behave but we can educate our children and discourage this behavior. My Children can talk to me about their feelings and even their hatred for someone, but I always discourage them from engaging in any tittle-tattle and backbiting with their peers

Below is a dialogue of our Prophet with his companions about this:
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

'Do you know what is backbiting?' The Companions said: 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said: 'Backbiting is talking about your brother in a manner which he dislikes.' It was said to him: 'What if my brother is as I say.' He said: 'If he is as you say, you have backbitten him, and if not, you have slandered him.'" (Sahih Muslim)

This is the gravity of this transgression that even if the contents of gossip have truth in them, it's still highly disliked. And we don't shy from adding even more spices to it.