4 ms·
My favorite/worst example of language evolution is the word factoid. Factoid literally meant a thing resembling a fact (i.e. a false fact) which is believed to
by irthomasthomas 6y ago
My favorite/worst example of language evolution is the word factoid. Factoid literally meant a thing resembling a fact (i.e. a false fact) which is believed to be true after being repeated in print. Now, those same writers who where presumably spreading factoids, have inverted its meaning to be 'a minor, but true fact' [0].
[0] http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_factoids.html http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_factoids.html
- vbtemp 6y agoWould a more correct version of a minor, true fact be a _factino_? Kind of like a Plutino or Neutrino?
- daffy 6y agoFactule, perhaps, from the unattested but regular diminutive factulum.
- nafey 6y agoFactarrino if you really wanna go wild with it
- jwilk 6y agofactlet (like piglet)
- daffy 6y agoBut that would be mixing Latin and English, just as bad as television!
- WarOnPrivacy 6y agofactette then.
- Udik 6y agoTrivia?
- minitoar 6y agoSort of an odd use of the “oid” suffix which means “like” or “resembling”. “Like a fact, but not”.
- baddox 6y agoI always thought “meteoroid” was an odd term. It’s something like a meteor, except it hasn’t entered the atmosphere. It’s like calling a slice of bread a toastoid.