• stoicmaverick@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The oldest joke we have a record of as a species is a fart joke. This is my favorite factoid of all time, maybe ever.

      • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Fun fact: Norman Mailer coined the word factoid in 1973. He wrote:

        “[Factoids are] facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority.”

        In other words, a factoid is a clickbait “alternative” fact.

        • stoicmaverick@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Interesting. I always took the term to indicate a single fact in isolation, in contrast to major dates or things that could be considered part of a curriculum.