Talk:Factoid
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The definition here which implies that 'factoid' no longer means a spurious fact is not backed up by the following sources. My own understanding of the word is also in line with these sources. As a result I have altered the definition.
A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
something resembling a fact; unverified (often invented) information that is given credibility because it appeared in print Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
Factoid Killer 17:26, 18 November 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] Origin
I've actually heard that Andy Warhol was the originator of the term "factoid" and that he defined it as "Something that sounds like a fact,but isn't"
[edit] references
..there we go; bunged in a couple of refs anyway.Cas Liber 09:20, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] other factoids
There will be other factoids about the place on Wikipedia - I've just stcuk a link to the Grt Wall of China factoid. Cas Liber 08:36, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wikipedia is subject to them
Don't you think it’s a bit funny that this is defined using a medium so subject to error due to factoids.
[edit] "Factoid" is not a factoid
Looking for some non-factoid source for this article. Note that factoids are not necessarily false, and that the word has been in recorded use for over 30 years. See quote from the Oxford English Dictionary below. SmokeyJoe 22:17, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
Factoid from oed.com
factoid, n. and a.
A. n. Something that becomes accepted as a fact, although it is not (or may not be) true; spec. an assumption or speculation reported and repeated so often that it is popularly considered true; a simulated or imagined fact.
- 1973 N. MAILER Marilyn i. 18/2 Factoids..that is, facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority. 1977 MCKNIGHT & TOBLER Bob Marley v. 60 On such flimsy evidence, many is the factoid that has been created. 1982 Listener 11 Feb. 34/1 A vicious circle of misinformation and garbled folklore factoids. 1983 Washington Post Mag. 19 June 9/2 They spend their days with ‘factoids’data produced by a computer's simulation of the world as it might be. 1987 I. RUFF Dead Reckoning 59 A record not of the actual truth but a series of semi-fictional factoids.
B. adj. Of or having the character of a factoid, quasi-factual; spec. designating writing (esp. journalism) which contains a mixture of fact and supposition or invention presented as accepted fact.
- 1976 Daily Tel. 18 Feb. 14/3 The current television trend of ‘factoid’ journalism, reporting events which may have happened. 1977 Even. Standard 20 June 2/3 This..space mystery, presented in factoid form as a news report. 1980 Encounter Oct. 30/2 It is a valuable and entertaining, if partisan and factoid, chapter in the struggle to reveal the intimate secrets of the judiciary to those it exists to serve.
