http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/48 This and that about baseball stats. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:57:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/48/comment-page-1#comment-43 Patrick Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:10:05 +0000 http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/48#comment-43 Thanks for the mention. :) Thanks for the mention.

]]> http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/48/comment-page-1#comment-37 birtelcom Tue, 26 Jun 2007 23:37:19 +0000 http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/48#comment-37 At the risk of being an annoying style-book scold, "factoid" is not a recommended term in this context. "Factoid" is from the combination of fact and "oid", the suffix from Latin meaning "like". The combination was coined to mean a statement which is not really a fact but just seems like a fact (i.e, something that seems like it is true but is not really true). The term has unfortunately also gained some currency as meaning an actual fact that is sort of a little one, a bit of trivia. This second meaning however completely distorts the purpose of suffix "oid", and invites confusion with the original intended meaning which is much more pejorative. For the second meaning, terms such as "fact", "little fact", "factlet", stat, or "piece of trivia" are clearer; which of these alternatives to use may depend on the context. Ok, I'll shut up know. At the risk of being an annoying style-book scold, "factoid" is not a recommended term in this context. "Factoid" is from the combination of fact and "oid", the suffix from Latin meaning "like". The combination was coined to mean a statement which is not really a fact but just seems like a fact (i.e, something that seems like it is true but is not really true). The term has unfortunately also gained some currency as meaning an actual fact that is sort of a little one, a bit of trivia. This second meaning however completely distorts the purpose of suffix "oid", and invites confusion with the original intended meaning which is much more pejorative. For the second meaning, terms such as "fact", "little fact", "factlet", stat, or "piece of trivia" are clearer; which of these alternatives to use may depend on the context. Ok, I'll shut up know.

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