• Psychobiologist@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Until recently the word “factoid” didn’t mean a small bit of trivia. It meant something that sounded true or was accepted as a fact even though it was incorrect.

    • TheHalc@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      It’s like the word asteroid. Aster means star, but an asteroid isn’t a star, it can just look like one.

    • Rikudou_Sage@lemmings.world
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      1 year ago

      Yep! Learned that word in Dune books, was confused when I first saw it online meaning something entirely different.

    • Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      Meme also suffered this fate, Used to mean an idea that was transmitted from person to person like a disease.

      I think the meaning of AI has also become watered down recently.

    • jerdle_lemmy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s definitely what it should mean. -oid means resembling or pertaining to, it’s not a diminutive.