factoid
Sign in to savethumb|A common factoid is the incorrect claim that the Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye. A factoid was originally defined to mean a false statement presented as a fact. In colloquial speech, it is often used to mean a true but brief or trivial item of news or information (which can be less ambiguously described as a "factlet").
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Usage
- Versus factlet
- See also
- References
thumb|A common factoid is the incorrect claim that the Great Wall of China is visible from space with the naked eye. A factoid was originally defined to mean a false statement presented as a fact. In colloquial speech, it is often used to mean a true but brief or trivial item of news or information (which can be less ambiguously described as a "factlet").
The term was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print. Since the term's invention in 1973, it has become used to describe a brief or trivial item of news or information.