factoid

a not-entirely-true or documentable "fact" that can be used alone or used to embellish a story;

see Anneism

During the Anneism spouted by Gertrude, the factoids were flying fast and furious.

by Shmouse May 20, 2005

The Wow Factor

The level of stunning a person is when dressed up, usually based on positive contrast to daily appearance. A very good looking woman who dresses very nicely every day can have a low wow factor as there is no great contrast between how she looks for a special occasion and on a daily basis. A girl who normally dresses in a boyish or sloppy manner however will, when groomed, usually have a high wow factor because of the contrast to how she usually looks

The wow factor is often at play in teen movies where makeovers are involved.

"Did you see Miranda? They got her out of her baggy pants and combat boots and made her wear makeup, hot damn that's really the wow factor at work."

by Thepeacockangel February 5, 2009

fudge factors

1. Science - Variables that have no basis in the (heuristic model of the) model, used to fit the model's behaviour to whatever it is supposed to model.

Example: If you want to model the fall time of a stone in the atmosphere, you start with the law of gravity and find it does not give the right fall time, so you first add air friction as a variable.

So far so good, but as you will soon find out that for a particular stone, the friction factor does not only depend on dimensions of the stone. It may also depend on surface roughness, air pressure at the time, water content in the air, iron content of the stone etc.

Despairing to model all these, you add an unexplained variable that you can use to adjust the outcome of the modelling to (aka "calibrating" or "fine-tuning" the model) the observed behaviour.

2. Business - The same as the above, but then applied to economic models and scorecards. Also known in the latter case as 'Management Adjustment'.

1. I don't like experimental physics: too many fudge factors. Where is the predictive value in that?
2. We were pretty much on target last year until the wankers upstairs decided to apply a management adjustment.

by Solitary Dolphin July 26, 2006

Olivier Factor

The act of making a seemingly easy or standard task much harder than it actually should be by means of choosing the most unknown or abstract method to complete the task.

Andrew: Well why the fuck did he do it that way?
Matt: That's the Olivier Factor for you...

by Paul_Kemp July 14, 2009

de facto

Not acknowledged as official, but real all the same.

There are de facto countries around the world, such as Transnistria, Northern Cyprus, and Somaliland, which the world community refuses to recognize as real countries, despite having their own governments, flags, military, and so forth.

Ashley and Tim are in a de facto relationship. Even though they claim to be single, they're always together and have been for over a year. Duh...

by BGMan August 14, 2008

Sphincter Factor

noun (slang); An allusion to the Richter Scale which, instead of measuring seismic activity, quantifies the magnitude of undesirable aspects. One of many colloquialisms used to define this magnitude (synonyms: suck-o-meter, dick meter, fail scale, et al).

"I give this whole thing a Sphincter Factor of about 9.5!" -- 'Hippy' (Todd Graff) in The Abyss (film, 1989, dir. James Cameron). Possible origin.

by Rancorr Blackmane August 5, 2009

Burlington Coat Factory

A store that suffers business-wise because 95% of potential shoppers think all they have is coats. In reality, it's much like Bealls, JC Penney, Dillards and the such.

"why the hell would I want to go to Burlington Coat Factory? all they have is coats!"

or do they....

by marmarthe2nd May 21, 2008