'Factoid' was coined by Norman Mailer to mean something that appears to be true ... | Hacker News

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		Curmudgel on June 9, 2014 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: InstaNerd 'Factoid' was coined by Norman Mailer to mean something that appears to be true but really isn't. If this really works, then it isn't a factoid.

mikeash on June 9, 2014 [–]

I used that term on purpose precisely because it's not correct due to the whole above/below mixup. The fixed version would indeed not qualify as a proper factoid.

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