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Another "factoid": The word "factoid" means a piece of trivia presented as fact, despite not being factual at all: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid.

Unfortunately, a lot of people have missed the original meaning, and now assume it merely means something that is true but trivial.

Edit: Just to be clear, I accept, and love, the fact that language evolves, but it's unfortunate when a useful word has its original meaning gradually overturned when there are no alternatives.



Also useful to know: the word "trivia" didn't originally mean a tiny fact. It comes from the Trivium, the three subjects that were taught as the basis of a medieval liberal arts education. The Trivium is grammar, logic, and rhetoric -- the basis of computer science and politics. After you finished with the Trivium, you would learn the Quadrivium: geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivium


Sort of. "Trivia" was apparently invented by an author named L. P. Smith in 1902 [1, 2], and has always meant "tiny fact" since its invention. Whereas "trivial" comes from both Trivium, as you say, there was already a Latin word trivialis, meaning "commonplace" or "ordinary" (it literally means "of the crossroads", ie. people and sights you encounter every day in a city) [3, 4]. I guess what happened here, etymologically, is essentially a merging of words that happen to fit: The Trivium, being the simplest course, was basic and everyday to the point of being "trivialis".

[1] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=trivia

[2] http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2009/12/trivial-pursuit.ht...

[3] http://www.yourdictionary.com/trivial, see American Heritage Dictionary at the bottom of the page.

[4] http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tri4.htm


amazeballs




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