What's the difference between tattling and telling?

Tattling


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Tattle
  • (a.) Given to idle talk; apt to tell tales.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Others will point out that this is a case of pot calling kettle black as Wolff is himself a famous peddler of tittle-tattle – the aggregator website that he cofounded, Newser, even has a section called "Gossip".
  • (2) Barry Glendenning juggles a ball and transfer tittle-tattle as he prepares to sit in the Big D-Day Chair.
  • (3) Whenever prominent South African figures misbehave, Xhosa title-tattle centres on whether they have been ­circumcised.
  • (4) Salmond's spokesman said last night that the leaks were "diplomatic tittle tattle", but "vindicated" the Scottish government's position.
  • (5) We all enjoy a bit of gossip, it's hard to look away from kiss'n'tells or tittle-tattle whether it's about a doped-up soap star or Murdoch himself.
  • (6) "I'm not too disappointed that tittle tattle has stopped," he says.
  • (7) He said there was "too much trivialisation" and "tittle tattle" in the UK press.
  • (8) If Fleet Street had dutifully awaited the official release of the data, as the likes of Sir Stuart once said it should, the big story would have been the blush-worthy tittle-tattle of grocery claims instead of the incomparably more serious issue of the dodgy property deals.
  • (9) Cameron called it "tittle-tattle and rumour – utterly pathetic!".
  • (10) I think it would have been appropriate and right and respectful of people’s feelings to have done so.” There was further confusion after a Twitter account claiming to be the official Jeremy Corbyn campaign, with a verified blue tick, dismissed the row as “tittle-tattle”.
  • (11) His Eye sets its sights at genuine corruption or hypocrisy or mendacity, rather than offering tittle-tattle.
  • (12) In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent.
  • (13) On the other hand, there is also no doubt that there is no genuine public-interest justification for publishing tittle-tattle.
  • (14) White assiduously avoided clearing up the tittle-tattle, until eventually birth, marriage and divorce certificates were slightly churlishly unearthed by journalists.
  • (15) And while I didn't write tittle-tattle dreaming of Pulitzers, I never knew I'd fear a Booker Prize nomination instead.
  • (16) I’m not interested in all the tittle‑tattle ... we all have to remember that he is a truly gifted player.” United were eighth when Cantona strode in and were finding goals hard to come by.
  • (17) The sum total, he said, was "gossip, conjecture, unpleasant tittle-tattle and dollops of nostalgia".
  • (18) Leading the charge of this year’s batch of tittle-tattle is that the 3.5mm headphone jack is being ditched for the iPhone 7 .
  • (19) Regurgitating tittle-tattle is the Mill's forte, confused readers, not arithmetic.
  • (20) 7.03pm BST Some tittle for your tattle Probably bollix, but then so's most of the day's "news".

Telling


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Tell
  • (a.) Operating with great effect; effective; as, a telling speech.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Michael James, 52, from Tower Hamlets Three days after telling his landlord that the flat upstairs was a deathtrap, Michael James was handed an eviction notice.
  • (2) In platform shoes to emulate Johnson's height, and with the aid of prosthetic earlobes, Cranston becomes the 36th president: he bullies and cajoles, flatters and snarls and barks, tells dirty jokes or glows with idealism as required, and delivers the famous "Johnson treatment" to everyone from Martin Luther King to the racist Alabama governor George Wallace.
  • (3) Today’s figures tell us little about the timing of the first increase in interest rates, which will depend on bigger picture news on domestic growth, pay trends and perceived downside risks in the global economy,” he said.
  • (4) Anytime they feel parts of the Basic Law are not up to their current standards of political correctness, they will change it and tell Hong Kong courts to obey.
  • (5) "With hyperspectral imaging, you can tell the chemical content of a cake just by taking a photo of it.
  • (6) I think he had been saying all season that with three or four games to go he will tell us where we are.
  • (7) I can see you use humour as a defence mechanism, so in return I could just tell you that if he's massively rich or famous and you've decided you'll put up with it to please him, you'll eventually discover it's not worth it.
  • (8) Are you ready to vote?” is the battle cry, and even the most superficial of glances at the statistics tells why.
  • (9) But what they take for a witticism might very well be true; most of Ellis's novels tell more or less the same story, about the same alienated ennui, and maybe they really are nothing more than the fictionalised diaries of an unremarkably unhappy man.
  • (10) On Friday, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry appeared to confirm those fears, telling reporters that the joint declaration, a deal negotiated by London and Beijing guaranteeing Hong Kong’s way of life for 50 years, “was a historical document that no longer had any practical significance”.
  • (11) Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tried to liven things up, but there are only so many ways to tell us to be nice to chickens.
  • (12) David Hamilton tells me: “The days of westerners leading expeditions to Nepal will pass.
  • (13) If Del Bosque really want to win this World Cup thingymebob, then he has got to tell Iker Casillas that the jig is up, correct?
  • (14) Will African film-makers tell those kind of films differently?
  • (15) July 7, 2016 Verified account A blue tick that tells you the user is either an A-list celebrity, a respected authority on an important subject or a BuzzFeed employee.
  • (16) The education secretary's wife, Sarah Vine, a columnist, said her son William, nine, and daughter Beatrice, 11, now realise how much their father is hated for his position in government because other children tell them in the playground.
  • (17) You can tell them that Deutsche Bank remains absolutely rock solid, given our strong capital and risk position.
  • (18) The debate certainly hit upon a larger issue: the tendency for people in positions of social and cultural power to tell the stories of minorities for them, rather than allowing minority communities to speak for themselves.
  • (19) In saying what he did, he was not telling any frequent flyer something they didn't already know, and he was not protesting about any newly adopted measures.
  • (20) Blight responded with a hypothetical, telling Ludlam if the ASD asked a foreign agency to get material about Australian citizens it could not access under Australian law, the IGIS would know about it and flag it in its annual report.

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