gotta goss

The dance studio I attended in junior high had a poster adjacent to the front door that read "GOSSIP" in big, bold letters. Below the word, it displayed hands covered in tar, or gasoline, or quicksand...some sticky substance that was supposed to suggest a life of failure and social exile.
Every week, before my two dance classes, I would look at the poster, go in my studio and waste no more than five seconds before making fun of somebody's wedgie-igniting leotard.
And nothing has changed. I am still the biggest gossip ever. I love it. Few things make me happier than finding some priceless nugget of information -- usually via advanced MySpace stalking -- and sharing it with some otherwise clueless partner in conversation.
I bring this up because the Oxford-based Social Issues Research Centre recently released this study asserting two-thirds of all human conversation is gossip. It specifically addresses the way mobile phones expands our ability to gossip, and even concludes men gossip just as much as women.
Remember that the next time you roll my eyes at my incessant "Oh my God"-ing.
I'm just curious...given its scientifically proven prevalence, does anyone still consider gossiping a vice? Or has it simply entered the realm of the inevitable?
Send me your thoughts. I promise I won't tell.