• Hyperi0n@lemmy.film
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      The universally accepted meaning is:

      a brief or trivial item of news or information

      • ominouslemon@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Interestingly, here’s what Merriam Webster says about the origin of the word:

        We can thank Norman Mailer for factoid: he used the word in his 1973 book Marilyn (about Marilyn Monroe), and he is believed to be the coiner of the word. In the book, he explains that factoids are “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.” Mailer’s use of the -oid suffix (which traces back to the ancient Greek word eidos, meaning “appearance” or “form”) follows in the pattern of humanoid: just as a humanoid appears to be human but is not, a factoid appears to be factual but is not. The word has since evolved so that now it most often refers to things that decidedly are facts, just not ones that are significant.