Factoid
false claim that is repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact or common knowledge
Factoid is stating a fact that is not backed up by evidence. The factoid may not be trusted because
- (a) it is actually false, or
- (b) because evidence to support it cannot be checked.
Factoids become widely treated as if they were true.[1]
In 1973, the term factoid was created and first used by Norman Mailer.[2]
A factoid is "an item of unreliable information which is repeated so often that it becomes accepted as a fact".[3] The most important thing is that the factoid is widely believed.[4] A factoid refers to something that looks like a fact, could be a fact, but in fact is not a fact.[5]
The term can also be used to describe partial information without context.
References
change- ↑ Pratkanis, Anthony R. (2001). Age of Propaganda: the Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion, p. 104.
- ↑ Winslow, Donald J. (1995). Life-writing: a Glossary of Terms in Biography, Autobiography, and Related Forms, p. 24; citing Mailer, Norman. (1973). Marilyn: A Biography, p. 63.
- ↑ Simpson, J.A. et al. (2008). The Compact Oxford English Dictionary.
- ↑ Rollyson, Carl Edmund. (1993). Marilyn Monroe: a life of the actress, p. 36; excerpt, "the most mysterious property of a factoid [a fiction that masquerades or functions as a fact] is that it is believed by the people who put together the factoid next to it."
- ↑ Pruden, Wesley. "The Fearsome Reality of the Surreal," Jewish World Review (US). July 15, 2003.
