Week in Review (9/22-9/26)

Posted by admin on 09.29.2008 at 11:41 am

What you may have missed last week:

-Getting books to Liberia, one book at a time
-Grammar Girl, teaching your humble blogger
-Getting your input about Shakespeare
-Shakespeare and Facebook, combined at last!
-Factoid, and why you should stop using the word
-Beedle the Bard and Brisingr, embrace your fantasy

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Betcha Didn’t Know…

Posted by Jack on 09.25.2008 at 12:45 pm

From the Washington State University errors page (love it) a little information about the oft used term “factoid,” which is used quite frequently in this election coverage:

The “-oid” ending in English is normally added to a word to indicate
that an item is not the real thing. A humanoid is not quite human.
Originally “factoid” was an ironic term indicating that the “fact” being
offered was not actually factual. However, CNN and other sources have
taken to treating the “-oid” as if it were a mere diminutive, and using
the term to mean “trivial but true fact.” As a result, the definition of
“factoid” is hopelessly confused and it’s probably better to avoid using
the term altogether.

Now you know!

[On a side note, "betcha" is obviously not a word either...]

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, factoid, random fact, Washington State, words