Factoid

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006 @ 10:26 p.m.

Does anybody know what the word 'factoid' actually means?

Well, I thought I did... until today. I've heard that word used countless times in magazines and even authoritative news channels like CNN. "Here's a factoid on John Doe". While I've never actually checked the dictionary, I've always held it to mean something like a little snippet of a fact. A 'mini-fact'. A tidbit of information.

Well, wrong-o. The Oxford dictionary says that 'factoid' actually means "A spurious or questionable fact; especially something that is supposed to be true because it has been reported (and often repeated) in the media, but is actually based on speculation or even fabrication".

So in other words, 'factoid' and 'balderdash' are synonyms. Thanks to some person who misused it at CNN, everybody's now using it to describe something completely opposite. Goes to show once again how we're naturally inclined to believe what we hear/read in the media.

So yeah. There's the English lesson of the day. Tell your friends.

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