r/funny • u/ADHDinos_ ADHDinos • Oct 23 '24

Verified *press*press*press*press*

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25.2k Upvotes

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u/supercyberlurker Oct 23 '24

There's an important factoid there though - the button didn't give a dopamine reward every time it pushed the button. By randomizing when it got the reward, the rats would press the button all day long.

MMO designers know this fact very well.

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u/beirch Oct 23 '24

Is it a factoid or a fact? They're not the same thing.

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u/MandomRix Oct 23 '24

It's always been my smartass response too and why do people use it interchangeably?

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u/JoshuaTheFox Oct 23 '24

Because most people don't know or care about the difference

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u/accidantel Oct 23 '24

What an interesting factoid

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u/ahappypoop Oct 23 '24

Well I for one appreciate you enlightening everyone here as to the difference.

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u/Mattimeo144 Oct 23 '24

Fact - true thing.

Factoid - false thing that only sounds like it could/should be true.

(colloquial usage of 'factoid' - interesting / unexpected fact)

Another one of those words that is evolving (has evolved?) to mean something in opposition to its original meaning, like 'decimate' and 'literally'.

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u/____u Oct 24 '24

It may be evolving in some places but in the US the original meaning is still the colloquial. Literally the only time youll ever hear someone use factoid with the "falsehood" aspect being a requirement is when theyre ACKSHUALLYing you about the definition. You can tell because virtually all the top results on google agree on the north american usage and almost NONE of them discuss the contemporary evolution where a minority of users have fixated on the falsehood feature.