know your factoid

Atten-hut!!

The word factoid was coined by Norman Mailer to mean: “facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper.”

The word factoid has entered the dictionary. Its first—i.e., preferred— meaning is: an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print.

I’ll grant you that the second meaning of the word factoid is: “a briefly stated and usually trivial fact.”

I just cannot stand it that nobody knows the goddamn meaning of the word.