Norman Mailer introduced the word factoid in his 1973 book Marilyn.
He invented it by combining the word fact with “-oid”, a scientific suffix that means “resembling but not identical to.”
In other words, it’s something that looks like a fact, but isn’t.
Factoids are built from rumors and used by irresponsible journalists to create a story when none exists.
Factoids may give come from common misconceptions and urban legends.
The word factoid may also mean a small piece of true but valueless or insignificant information, which is different from the original definition.
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