On Wednesday, March 7, 2012 5:52:31 AM UTC, Joseph Nebus wrote:
> In <jj5jnk$ivf$
2...@speranza.aioe.org> "Charles Combes" <
chukamo...@yahoonospam.com> writes:
>
> >James Nicoll wrote:
> >> In article <
lqdcl7l31s4n6t9u3...@4ax.com>,
> >> Joy Beeson <jbe...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
> >>> On Tue, 6 Mar 2012 14:29:36 +0000 (UTC),
jdni...@panix.com (James
> >>> Nicoll) wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Looks true, albeit undocumented. Are you sure it's not a factlet?
> >>>
> >> It runs aground like a cruise ship captained by a short-sighted
> >> lothario on two shoals of fact: Silverberg wrote SF at that time
> >> and not fantasy and he didn't tackle big projects like that.
>
> >I believe she was referring to the definition of factoid: "A factoid is a
> >questionable or spurious (unverified, false, or fabricated) statement
> >presented as a fact, but with no veracity."
>
> Interestingly, this would make ``a factoid is a questionable
> or spurous (unverified, false, or fabricated) statement presented as a
> fact, but with no veracity'' a factoid, by that definition.
>
>
> Could soemone check the calendar? Is it about time for the
> Descriptivist Versus Prescriptivist argument or are we still too far
> in Hard Science Fiction, Putative Existence Of, season?
<
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/factoid>
says that the term was either invented or
promoted by Norman Mailer in 1973.
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid>
says
"Mailer described a factoid as 'facts which
have no existence before appearing in
a magazine or newspaper'." "The word factoid
is now sometimes also used to mean a small
piece of true but valueless or insignificant
information, in contrast to the original
definition. This has been popularized by
the CNN Headline News TV channel, which,
during the 1980s and 1990s, used to
frequently include such a fact under the
heading 'factoid' during newscasts.
BBC Radio 2 presenter Steve Wright uses
factoids extensively on his show.
As a result of confusion over the meaning
of factoid, some English-language style
and usage guides recommend against its use.
Language expert William Safire in his
On Language column advocated the use of
the word factlet to express a 'little bit
of arcana'." But what's wrong with "fact"?
As for Robert Silverberg's output, presumably
it's documented and can be weighed, and the
calculation performed.
Googling ("Lionel Fanthorpe" and Silverberg)
yields in a Google Books document called
_The Limbo Files_ Robert SHECKLEY's remedy
for writer's block, which was to type 5,000
words a day without particularly caring what
they are. Robert Silverberg appears in the
form of a factoidal quip. There surely will
be something about Isaac Asimov, but all
that factoids to mind is that he had two
typewriters. Or was it that you knew he'd
gone on holiday because he had only brought
two typewriters.