Mesofact, the word I used to describe slowly changing knowledge, is apparently becoming a word, at least according to Fox News, in its list of 25 New Tech Words You Need to Know:
A mesofact is a fact that is slowly evolving over time. For example, the term “national healthcare” might have one meaning at first, but slowly evolves to become more concrete, as the actual laws emerge. Original use: on Wikipedia, users often add more detail to an entry as the original meaning and facts evolve.
And perhaps the article’s highest praise is that I am not mentioned anywhere in the piece and it’s just treated as a regular new word, so maybe it’s entering our lexicon. It’s even in Wordnik, the massive online dictionary created by Erin McKean.
Last week, Colin McEnroe, asked me on his radio show if I am using copyright or trademark to protect the use of ‘mesofact’ and I told him I would much rather have it enter our vocabulary. And perhaps it is. But if you’re worried about these kinds of words in our lexicon, read Erin McKean’s article about this quandary, and why you shouldn’t be all that concerned. So please feel free to use mesofact!
3 Comments
It’s certainly entered my personal vocabulary. Great word and concept, glad I stumbled across it in your article :)
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks.
Mesofactual is how I would describe Fox News.
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[...] for a ton of publications (like the New York Times), and will come to Defrag to talk about “mesofacts” and the science of slowly changing [...]