• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    271 year ago

    Until recently the word “factoid” didn’t mean a small bit of trivia. It meant something that sounded true or was accepted as a fact even though it was incorrect.

    • TheHalc
      link
      fedilink
      English
      41 year ago

      It’s like the word asteroid. Aster means star, but an asteroid isn’t a star, it can just look like one.

    • Rikudou_Sage
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      Yep! Learned that word in Dune books, was confused when I first saw it online meaning something entirely different.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      Meme also suffered this fate, Used to mean an idea that was transmitted from person to person like a disease.

      I think the meaning of AI has also become watered down recently.

    • @Zehzin
      link
      English
      11 year ago

      This sounds like a factoid

    • @jerdle_lemmy
      link
      English
      11 year ago

      That’s definitely what it should mean. -oid means resembling or pertaining to, it’s not a diminutive.