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A factoid is something that looks like a fact but isn't, like a humanoid is something that looks like a human but isn't.
by black-tea 8y ago
A factoid is something that looks like a fact but isn't, like a humanoid is something that looks like a human but isn't.
- dragonwriter 8y agoFactoid has two different definitions, one of which is consistent with the grandparent’s use: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factoid https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factoid
- SubiculumCode 8y agoInteredting. I usually associate it with a second meaning...a trivial, of no real consequence, fact.
- taneq 8y agoNow THIS is a fun factoid. :)
- mehrdadn 8y agoI just realized something from this comment. Asteroid is aster + oid... i.e. like a star (aster), but isn't. Hadn't realized it before!
- amelius 8y agohttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-oid https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-oid
- mehrdadn 8y agoIt wasn't that I had no idea what -oid meant (humanoid etc. made it fairly obvious), it was just that seeing it spelled out explicitly made me make a connection I hadn't before. Similarly with Android -- never realized it's andro (man) + [o]id.
- black-tea 8y agoThis is why I post things like that, despite the downvotes. People start throwing around words and not thinking of their composition but it's usually really fun to notice it. Have fun spotting other -oids.
- mehrdadn 8y agoYeah, thanks! :)
- kumarharsh 8y ago"Void = v, but not really." I'll get my hat...
- losvedir 8y agoI had a roller coaster of emotions reading that comment. It began with "factoid" which immediately triggered in me the same consternation in you, not that I would have posted about it..., Then I read on about injecting frogs with urine and thought he was retelling an African urban legend. I was impressed with the tale being prefaced with a "factoid" which would be a correct use! Then I realized it was actually true. But at that point my dismay in the incorrect use of "factoid" after all was completely dwarfed by my shock that injecting frogs with human urine really did determine pregnancy.
- killaken2000 8y agoFactoid is is used correctly here. There are two meanings though strangely they are opposite in terms of truthiness
- black-tea 8y agoOr, rather, the dictionary shows that it has been used incorrectly for at least a few years. Knowing what the ending -oid means clearly shows the usage wasn't correct. "I could care less" is also "correct" according to your criterion.
- coldtea 8y ago>Or, rather, the dictionary shows that it has been used incorrectly for at least a few years. Knowing what the ending -oid means clearly shows the usage wasn't correct. Or you don't know what -oid means either. Oid doesn't strictly mean "looking like but not being X". Some words ending in -oid can mean that, but generally just means "having the form of X, belonging to the class of X" etc. From the ancient Greek -oides. Dictionary again: -oid. a suffix meaning “resembling,” “like,” used in the formation of adjectives and nouns (and often implying an incomplete or imperfect resemblance to what is indicated by the preceding element) Note the "often", not always. And not at all mandatory at the original ancient Greek -oeides where -oid was adopted from, for math, zoology, medicine, etc. It means both "likeness" (so alike, but not X), and "form" (belonging to the family of things with X form).
- coldtea 8y agoNo, factoid can also be a real fact. It doesn't get its "looks but isn't" from sharing the same ending as "humanoid". The same way an arachnoid is still an arachnid. -oid just means "having the form of" (from the ancient Greek, oeides, meaning "of the type"/"belonging to the class"/"having the form of"). Sometimes this implies "looking like, but not being the thing" (like in humanoid, else we'd just say "human"), but in other words it just means "belonging to that family". Factoids are meant to be small interesting tidbits (facts). Quite often what are presented as factoids are bogus (e.g. urban legends reproduced by journalists to fill "Did you know that?" style columns). Dictionary covers both meanings: 1) an item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact. 2) a brief or trivial item of news or information. But as you can see, the 1st meaning is not because of the "-oid" making such a meaning mandatory (else the world wouldn't have the second meaning, not to mention all the other words that end in -oid, but still don't imply a mere look-alike).