‘I don’t want to say anything but I think you ought to know….’

Always say ‘well don’t then;’ loudly, at that point.  Trust me you will never want to know. 

It is almost always the beginning of somebody trying to land somebody else in it, because if they don’t want to say something then why the heck are they?

At work if you are the line manager it will be one colleague trying to grass on another.

With friendships it will either be a friend telling you that another friend has been gossiping about you or worse, that your partner has been playing away.

With colleagues or friends at school it will be something your child has done.

With neighbours it will be gossip about another neighbour. 

You can be sure it will never be positive because nobody ever starts positive news with that particular sentence. 

‘I don’t want to say anything but Jenny has just passed her driving test.’

‘I don’t want to say anything but Mickey is going to give his family a dream holiday’ 

Adults have not progressed from childhood, they are just less honest about it.  At least kids come straight out and ‘tell!’  ‘Mum Bobby’s been hitting me, ‘ or ‘Miss, Ginnie’s copying Alex,’ and you can bet that if they don’t want to ‘tell’ they won’t!