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I keep seeing this "factoid" and I'm pretty sure it's just bullshit.
Cats meow to each other all the time. They can meow in frequencies humans can't hear but they didn't start meowing just to "manipulate" humans.
Cats did however develop a specific type of meow that does in fact mimic the frequencies of a baby crying but it's not the cats normal meow.
This is the first time I've seen the word factoid used for its actual original definition... but why you put it in quotes?
Maybe he wasnt 100% sure about the definition of "factoid" so he just kinda factoided the word "factoid" into existence :D
That's actually exactly what happened.
I thought a factoid was simply the term for those quick fun facts.
Like how magenta doesn't actually exist and it's a glitch in your brain because it can't process a lack of green so it creates magenta.
So yeah I thought factoids were true but now I know better.
That's the fun part! Factoid kind of became a factoid (I know there's an actual etymological term for this but I can't remember it) I believe its original definition was an assumption thats circulated enough its assumed as fact. ie many "wives tales" But now the definition you gave has been assumed so much it has become fact! See? Fun!
Language is weird and dumb sometimes
It was originally something that seemed like a fact, but wasn't, similar to you would describe something that looks like a human, but isn't, as humanoid.
I guess people thought factoids they read were true, and assumed it just was a weird true fact.
Combining sound and food stimuli is classic pavlov conditioning. Cats learn very quickly if they make any sound that a human will react in a way, ie scratching a door for territory or meowing for food.
or talking like a baby?