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

Factoid can refer to 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^[1] 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.^[2] 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".^[3][4] Photograph of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia taken by Michael Rogers. ... Photograph of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia taken by Michael Rogers. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 606 KB) Toronto Downtown Core, at nite from CN Tower Author: Scott Wilkinson Date: 2004/10/04 File links The following pages link to this file: Ontario Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 606 KB) Toronto Downtown Core, at nite from CN Tower Author: Scott Wilkinson Date: 2004/10/04 File links The following pages link to this file: Ontario Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is generally regarded as the most comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the English language. ... A neologism (from Greek νεολογισμός νέος [neos] = new; λόγος [logos] = word) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Norman Mailer, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Norman Kingsley Mailer (born January 31, 1923) is an American novelist, journalist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson on July 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), was a Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, singer, model and pop icon. ... Look up fact in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... -oid is a suffix much used in the sciences and mathematics to indicate a similarity, not necessarily exact, to something else. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, -oid is derived from the Latin suffix -oides taken from Greek and meaning having the likeness of. Thus, asteroid means like a star...

There are strong connections between factoids and urban legends. An urban legend or urban myth is a kind of modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ...

Examples

• It is commonly believed in the Australian city of Mount Isa that their city, in terms of its area, is the world's largest or second largest city. In reality Mount Isa is the largest city in Australia, but there are several larger cities around the world. Their own local council web site incorrectly suggests it is the second largest city on earth. ^[5]
• 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. Nonetheless, the belief in this status persisted for years, even finding its way onto UNESCO's own web site,^[6] into the pages of the New York Times,^[7] 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 space. ^[8]
• Gullible.info, an online compendium of fake trivia, was started in the fall of 2004 by Kyle Stoneman, then a ~19 years old political communications major at George Washington University, "as a social experiment parodying people's willingness to accept bits of information without question."^[9] On April 27 2006 The Guardian ran a short piece about the soon expected filming of Timothy Leary's biography. The piece reported Leary had "claimed to have discovered a new primary colour - which he called gendale."^[10] A month later Regret the Error, Craig Silverman's blog of journalism bloopers, published a posting titled "Guardian taps Gullible.info for a bogus Leary fact", the "fact" being Leary's said "claim".^[11] At that time the Guardian still hadn't corrected their mistake,^[12], but by mid December, when the mistake made Silverman's list of the "best" journalism mistakes of '06, Silverman reported the Guardian had fixed the mistake.^[13][14]

Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia Mount Isa is a city and Local Government Area located in north-western Queensland, Australia. ... Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia Mount Isa is a city and Local Government Area located in north-western Queensland, Australia. ... UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... The Demographics of Toronto make Toronto one of the most multicultural cities in the world[]. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, in its List of World Cities with the Largest Percentage of Foreign-born Population. Toronto represents a multicultural mosaic. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... A section of the Great Wall near Beijing during winter The course of the Great Wall is shown in this map dated from 1805 The Great Wall (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: , literally long city wall) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built between 5th century... The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ... For the American baseball player use Tim Leary (baseball player) Timothy Francis Leary, Ph. ... Craig Silverman is a writer and communications consultant in Montreal, Canada. ...

Other meaning

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. ^[15] CNN Headline News is a spin-off network from the original Cable News Network (CNN) television news network in the United States and Canada. ... The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... This article is very long Some browsers may have difficulty rendering this article. ... BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBCs national radio stations and is the most popular station in the UK. It broadcasts throughout the UK on FM radio between 88 and 91 MHz from its studios in Western House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. ... For other persons named Steven Wright, see Steven Wright (disambiguation). ...

As a result of confusion over the meaning of factoid, some English-language style and usage guides recommend against its use. ^[16]

Footnotes

1. ^ (1991) in Simpson JA & Weiner ESC: The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861258-3. 
2. ^ Mailer, Norman (1973). Marilyn: A Biography. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-01029-1. 
3. ^ The Word Detective (October 18, 2000)
4. ^ '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)
5. ^ Mount Isa City Council page suggesting their city is the second largest city in the world
6. ^ UNESCO Best Practices for Human Settlements: Metro Toronto's Changing Communities
7. ^ Clyde H. Farnsworth,"Toronto Journal: To Battle Bigots, Help from South of the Border," New York Times, Friday, 12 February 1993, 4.
8. ^ See Great Wall of China controversy
9. ^ [NAP]
10. ^ [EUR]
11. ^ [REG]
12. ^ [REG]: "the Guardian still hasn't corrected its article."
13. ^ [SIL]
14. ^ [STA]
15. ^ Wright, Steve (2005). Steve Wright's Book of Factoids. HarperCollins Entertainment. ISBN 0-00-720660-7. 
16. ^ Brians, Paul (2003). Common Errors in English Usage. William James & Company. ISBN 1-887902-89-9.  [1]

October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wesley Pruden is the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times, a position he has held for 13 years. ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... A section of the Great Wall near Beijing during winter The course of the Great Wall is shown in this map dated from 1805 The Great Wall (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: , literally long city wall) is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built between 5th century...

References

• [EUR] Europe Intelligence Wire (From Guardian Unlimited). April 27 2006. "Miramax turns on to Leary". <http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15033498_ITM>. Accessed February 22 2007.

Apparently, the original, uncorrected version of the Guardian article.

• [NAP] Napoli, Lisa. March 10 2005. "A Gullible Clearinghouse and the Art of Signage" ("And Now, Fake Trivia"). ("Online Diary"). The New York Times (Technology). <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/technology/circuits/10diary.html?ex=1172293200&en=19cbe6c8765db2bd&ei=5070>. Accessed February 22 2007.

Napoli introduces Gullible.info, a compendium of fabricated information, and interviews its creator, a 19 years old political communications student.

• [REG] Regret the Error, Mistakes Happen. July 27 2006. "Guardian taps Gullible.info for a bogus Leary fact". <http://www.regrettheerror.com/2006/07/guardian_taps_g.html>. Accessed February 22 2007.

Craig Silverman's journalism bloopers blog reports the Guardian used Gullibile.info's fabricated "gendale" factoid in one of its articles.

• [SIL] Silverman, Craig. December 13, 2006. "Crunks ’06: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections" ("The Check the Domain Award"). Regret the Error, Mistakes Happen. <http://www.regrettheerror.com/2006/12/crunks_06_the_y.html>. Accessed February 22 2007.

Silverman lists the Guardian "gendale" affair as one of the "best" media errors of 2006, and reports of its correction.

• [STA] Staff and agencies. April 27 2006. "Miramax turns on to Leary". Guardian Unlimited (News). <http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1762429,00.html>. Accessed February 23 2007.

The corrected Guardian article.

See also

• Talking point
• Trivia
• Truthiness
• User:Itayb/Gendale

Talking points are small pre-prepared arguments or phrases that political strategists issue to representatives or supporters of a party or administration to be used repeatedly in speeches, talk show appearances and debates. ... Look up Trivia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Stephen Colbert announces that The WØRD of the night is truthiness, during the premiere episode of The Colbert Report. ...

External links

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