"A Factoid is NOT a Fact"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 2 23:34:12 UTC 2006


More from ZDNet:

"A Factoid is NOT a Fact"

"A Factoid is NOT an interesting bit of factual trivia. It is
information masquerading as fact, thus the -oid suffix. As in
human-oid."

"Please, people, get this straight! Factoid is, in fact, the exact
opposite of what you want to say. A factoid is something that pretends
to be true, but isn't."

"I know, I know, everybody and his grandmother is committing this same
mistake - it's factoidal behavior - don't do it!"

"Factoid is to Fact as Truthiness is to Truth."

-Wilson Gray

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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