Editing Factoid (section)

{{Short description|Invented claim or trivial fact}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Mur chiński 2010 1.JPG|thumb|A common factoid is the incorrect claim that the [[Great Wall of China]] is [[Artificial structures visible from space|visible from space with the naked eye]].]]
A '''factoid''' is either a false statement presented as a fact,<ref>{{Cite web|title = factoid: definition of factoid in Merriam-Webster Dictionary (US)|url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/factoid|website =Merriam-Webster |access-date = November 14, 2015}}</ref><ref name="oxforddictionaries.com">{{Cite web|title = factoid: definition of factoid in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)|url = http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/factoid|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130614033704/http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/factoid|url-status = dead|archive-date = June 14, 2013|website = Oxford Dictionaries Online |access-date = July 13, 2015}}</ref> ''or'' a true but brief or [[trivia]]l item of news or information.

The term was coined in 1973 by American writer [[Norman Mailer]] to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.<ref name=twsTimeMag>[[Paul Dickson (writer)|Dickson, Paul]] (April 30, 2014). [https://time.com/82601/the-origins-of-writerly-words/ "The origins of writerly words"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. Retrieved November 14, 2015.</ref> Since the term's invention in 1973, it has become used to describe a brief or trivial item of news or information.