Factoid

Mount Isa, Australia, is often incorrectly referred to as the largest city in the world by area.

Toronto, Canada, was never designated by UNESCO as the world\'s most multicultural city

A factoid is a spurious (unverified, incorrect, or invented) "fact" intended to create or prolong public exposure or to manipulate public opinion. It appears in the Oxford English Dictionary (1991) in Simpson JA & Weiner ESC: The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861258-3.  as "something which becomes accepted as fact, although it may not be true", namely a speculation or an assumption. The term was coined by Norman Mailer in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe.Mailer, Norman (1973). Marilyn: A Biography. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-01029-1.  Mailer described a factoid as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper", and created the word by combining the word fact and the ending -oid to mean "like a fact".The Word Detective (October 18 2000)\'Factoids rule -- a "factoid" being the playful invention of novelist Norman Mailer, who defined a "factoid" as something that looks like a fact, could be a fact, but in fact is not a fact.\' (Wesley Pruden, Editorial in Washington Times)

There are strong connections between factoids and urban legends.

Examples

• Many residents of the Australian city of Mount Isa believe that their city, in terms of its area, is the world\'s largest or second largest. In reality Mount Isa is the largest city in Australia, but there are several cities around the world with larger incorporated areas. Their own local council web site incorrectly suggests it is the second largest city on earth.Mount Isa City Council page suggesting their city is the second largest city in the world
• The media in Canada have often reported that the city of Toronto was named by UNESCO as the most multicultural city in the world. Although there have been some reports suggesting that Toronto may be one of the world\'s most diverse cities (see Demographics of Toronto), the United Nations agency has never designated any city as being the most multicultural or diverse.Michael J. Doucet (October 2004). The Anatomy of an Urban Legend: Toronto\'s Multicultural Reputation. CERIS - Metropolis Toronto Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement. Retrieved on 2007-05-23. Nonetheless, the belief in this status persisted for years, even finding its way onto UNESCO\'s own web site,UNESCO Best Practices for Human Settlements: Metro Toronto\'s Changing Communities into the pages of the New York TimesClyde H. Farnsworth, "Toronto Journal: To Battle Bigots, Help from South of the Border," New York Times, Friday, 12 February 1993, 4. and The Economist,City of diversity, Economist City Guide: Toronto, [1] (retrieved May 24, 2007) and into international media reports in respect of Toronto\'s two Olympic bids.
• The Great Wall of China is often thought as being the only man-made object visible from the moon.See Great Wall of China\'s visibility In reality no man-made object can be seen with a naked eye from the moon unless you count such things as the changing of Holland\'s coast or the partial drying out of the Aral Sea.

Other meanings

The word factoid is now sometimes also used to mean a small piece of true but valueless or insignificant information, in contrast to the original definition. This has been popularized by the CNN Headline News TV channel, which, during the 1980s and 1990s, used to frequently include such a fact under the heading "factoid" during newscasts. In the United Kingdom, BBC Radio 2 presenter Steve Wright uses factoids extensively on his show.Wright, Steve (2005). Steve Wright\'s Book of Factoids. HarperCollins Entertainment. ISBN 0-00-720660-7. 

As a result of confusion over the meaning of factoid, some English-language style and usage guides recommend against its use.Brians, Paul (2003). Common Errors in English Usage. William James & Company. ISBN 1-887902-89-9.  [2] Language expert William Safire in his On Language column advocated the use of the word factlet to express a "little bit of arcana"William Safire, "On Language; Only the Factoids," New York Times, Sunday, 5 December 1993..

Footnotes

See also

• Talking point
• Trivia
• Truthiness
• Meme

External links

• Cyclopedia of Factoids
• Gullible.info, Compendium of Factoids

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia