from Filipino: Maritess.

It is used as both a noun and verb, as in to be a Maritess is to be someone who enjoys gossip; while to Maritess, is to engage in gossip, along with all the adjacent terms, like to eavesdrop, to share, to spread the word, and to devour it likewise. It’s also a woman’s name, a nickname for Maria Teresa, as in the saintly one; divine medium for the Holy Ghost, spiller of heavenly tea. A woman’s name, thus exposing its pejorative use: as in “don’t be that girl,” as in, “Mind your own damn business, Maritess.” If we had to choose though, to Maritess (verb) was far more preferable to being a Maritess (noun), in that you are being that girl, but only for the moment. A full-time Maritess would never have been given the job, but to Maritess out of necessity was vital to getting the job done. How else would we know what we know?

* At least that’s what I heard. Notes on gossip as storytelling/ as fiction/ as labor, by Alice Sarmiento