Wikipedia: Factoid

Difference (from prior author revision) (major diff, minor diff)

Changed: 1c1,7

Whilst it has come to mean "a small fact" or "snippet of the information", the word Factoid (originally coined by [Norman Mailer]? in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe) originally had a different and more subtle meaning. The original meaning was an wholly spurious "fact" invented to create or prolong public exposure or to manipulate public opinion. Mailer himself described a factoid as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper"

While it has come to mean "a small fact" or "snippet of the information", the word "factoid"
(coined by [Norman Mailer]? in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe) originally had a different
and more subtle meaning.
The original meaning was a wholly spurious "fact" invented to create or prolong public exposure
or to manipulate public opinion.
Mailer himself described a factoid as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a
magazine or newspaper".

While it has come to mean "a small fact" or "snippet of the information", the word "factoid" (coined by [Norman Mailer]? in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe) originally had a different and more subtle meaning. The original meaning was a wholly spurious "fact" invented to create or prolong public exposure or to manipulate public opinion. Mailer himself described a factoid as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper".