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Factoid: A piece of unverified or inaccurate information that is presented in the press as factual, often as part of a publicity effort, and that is then accepted as true because of frequent repetition
(From dictionary.com)
I've always thought it was interesting that CNN (?) called all those brief snippets "factoids" -- it was the first time I'd seen such widespread acknowledgement from the media that the information was unverified or innacurate. I was also amused that the very fact that they called it a "factoid" caused so many people to think that meant it must be true.
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