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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== French, from Greek ''anekdota'' unpublished items, from neuter plural of ''anekdotos'' unpubl...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Anecdote_from_Bede.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
French, from [[Greek]] ''anekdota'' unpublished items, from neuter plural of ''anekdotos'' unpublished, from ''a''- + ''ekdidonai'' to publish, from ex out + ''didonai'' to give
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_century 1686]
The word 'anecdote'is an amusing short story (in Greek: "unpublished", [[literally]] "not given out") comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procopius_of_Caesarea Procopius of Caesarea], the biographer of Justinian I, who produced a work entitled Ἀνέκδοτα (Anekdota, variously translated as Unpublished Memoirs or Secret History), which is primarily a collection of short incidents from the [[private]] life of the [[Byzantine]] court. Gradually, the term anecdote came to be applied to any short tale utilized to emphasize or [[illustrate]] whatever point the [[author]] wished to make.
==Definition==
*1: a usually short [[narrative]] of an interesting, amusing, or [[biographical]] [[incident]]
==Description==
An '''anecdote''' is a short and amusing or interesting [[story]] about a real [[incident]] or [[person]]. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_phrases#B bon mot]''. An anecdote is always presented as based in a real incident involving actual persons, whether [[famous]] or not, usually in an identifiable place. However, over time, modification in reuse may convert a particular anecdote to a [[fictional]] piece, one that is retold but is "too good to be true". Sometimes [[humorous]], anecdotes are not [[jokes]], because their primary [[purpose]] is not simply to evoke laughter, but to reveal a [[truth]] more general than the brief tale itself, or to delineate a [[character]] trait in such a light that it strikes in a flash of [[insight]] to its very [[essence]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novalis Novalis] observed "An anecdote is a historical element — a historical [[molecule]] or epigram". A brief monologue beginning "A man pops in a bar..." will be a joke. A brief monologue beginning "Once J. Edgar Hoover popped in a bar..." will be an anecdote. An anecdote thus is closer to the [[tradition]] of the [[parable]] than the patently invented fable with its animal characters and generic human figures— but it is distinct from the parable in the historical specificity which it claims.
Anecdotal [[evidence]] is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote. The term is often used in [[contrast]] to [[scientific]] evidence, as evidence that cannot be investigated using the [[scientific method]]. The problem with arguing based on anecdotal evidence is that anecdotal evidence is not necessarily typical; only [[statistical]] evidence can determine how typical something is. Misuse of anecdotal evidence is a [[logical]] [[fallacy]].
When used in advertising or promotion of a product, [[service]], or [[idea]], anecdotal evidence is often called a [[testimonial]] and is banned in some [[jurisdictions]]. The term is also sometimes used in a [[legal]] [[context]] to describe certain kinds of testimony. [[Psychologists]] have found that people are more likely to remember notable examples than the typical example.
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]
==Origin==
French, from [[Greek]] ''anekdota'' unpublished items, from neuter plural of ''anekdotos'' unpublished, from ''a''- + ''ekdidonai'' to publish, from ex out + ''didonai'' to give
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17th_century 1686]
The word 'anecdote'is an amusing short story (in Greek: "unpublished", [[literally]] "not given out") comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procopius_of_Caesarea Procopius of Caesarea], the biographer of Justinian I, who produced a work entitled Ἀνέκδοτα (Anekdota, variously translated as Unpublished Memoirs or Secret History), which is primarily a collection of short incidents from the [[private]] life of the [[Byzantine]] court. Gradually, the term anecdote came to be applied to any short tale utilized to emphasize or [[illustrate]] whatever point the [[author]] wished to make.
==Definition==
*1: a usually short [[narrative]] of an interesting, amusing, or [[biographical]] [[incident]]
==Description==
An '''anecdote''' is a short and amusing or interesting [[story]] about a real [[incident]] or [[person]]. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_phrases#B bon mot]''. An anecdote is always presented as based in a real incident involving actual persons, whether [[famous]] or not, usually in an identifiable place. However, over time, modification in reuse may convert a particular anecdote to a [[fictional]] piece, one that is retold but is "too good to be true". Sometimes [[humorous]], anecdotes are not [[jokes]], because their primary [[purpose]] is not simply to evoke laughter, but to reveal a [[truth]] more general than the brief tale itself, or to delineate a [[character]] trait in such a light that it strikes in a flash of [[insight]] to its very [[essence]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novalis Novalis] observed "An anecdote is a historical element — a historical [[molecule]] or epigram". A brief monologue beginning "A man pops in a bar..." will be a joke. A brief monologue beginning "Once J. Edgar Hoover popped in a bar..." will be an anecdote. An anecdote thus is closer to the [[tradition]] of the [[parable]] than the patently invented fable with its animal characters and generic human figures— but it is distinct from the parable in the historical specificity which it claims.
Anecdotal [[evidence]] is an informal account of evidence in the form of an anecdote. The term is often used in [[contrast]] to [[scientific]] evidence, as evidence that cannot be investigated using the [[scientific method]]. The problem with arguing based on anecdotal evidence is that anecdotal evidence is not necessarily typical; only [[statistical]] evidence can determine how typical something is. Misuse of anecdotal evidence is a [[logical]] [[fallacy]].
When used in advertising or promotion of a product, [[service]], or [[idea]], anecdotal evidence is often called a [[testimonial]] and is banned in some [[jurisdictions]]. The term is also sometimes used in a [[legal]] [[context]] to describe certain kinds of testimony. [[Psychologists]] have found that people are more likely to remember notable examples than the typical example.
[[Category: Languages and Literature]]