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A word that describes a statement that is untrue based on anecdotal evidence
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SO if someone tells you that they took cough syrup and they don't have a cough anymore so therefore cough medicine works. I have kept a virus scanner and malware scanner on my computer and never got a virus so it works.
There is a word that I know describes these false correlations but its all about the fact that they cannot prove it. You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the same thing happened. You cannot go back in time and do the exact same thing with your computer to see if you still don't get a virus.
I am struggling to find the word that describes this and cannot remember what its called. Wondering if someone else can help.
single-word-requests meaning
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
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Steve Main
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up vote
2
down vote
favorite
SO if someone tells you that they took cough syrup and they don't have a cough anymore so therefore cough medicine works. I have kept a virus scanner and malware scanner on my computer and never got a virus so it works.
There is a word that I know describes these false correlations but its all about the fact that they cannot prove it. You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the same thing happened. You cannot go back in time and do the exact same thing with your computer to see if you still don't get a virus.
I am struggling to find the word that describes this and cannot remember what its called. Wondering if someone else can help.
single-word-requests meaning
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
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Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
SO if someone tells you that they took cough syrup and they don't have a cough anymore so therefore cough medicine works. I have kept a virus scanner and malware scanner on my computer and never got a virus so it works.
There is a word that I know describes these false correlations but its all about the fact that they cannot prove it. You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the same thing happened. You cannot go back in time and do the exact same thing with your computer to see if you still don't get a virus.
I am struggling to find the word that describes this and cannot remember what its called. Wondering if someone else can help.
single-word-requests meaning
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
New contributor
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
SO if someone tells you that they took cough syrup and they don't have a cough anymore so therefore cough medicine works. I have kept a virus scanner and malware scanner on my computer and never got a virus so it works.
There is a word that I know describes these false correlations but its all about the fact that they cannot prove it. You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the same thing happened. You cannot go back in time and do the exact same thing with your computer to see if you still don't get a virus.
I am struggling to find the word that describes this and cannot remember what its called. Wondering if someone else can help.
single-word-requests meaning
single-word-requests meaning
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
New contributor
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
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Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
edited 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
2,938927
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
New contributor
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
asked 2 days ago
Steve Main
132
132
New contributor
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Steve Main is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
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up vote
3
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accepted
There is an exact expression for the circumstance you describe.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
No, I know: it is not a word. And, yes, it is Latin, not English.
It means
After this, therefore because of this.
It is, even now, the expression for a logical fallacy.
No standard English expression has replaced this precise description of the logical howler.
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you've described is an example of many things. I'll just list a few. I'll bold certain important terms. In research experiment terminology it's a Type 1 error, also known as a false positive. They've accepted the hypothesis that A causes B, and if it's not true, then it's a false positive. This conclusion arrived at by a person is most likely due to a confounding variable (another variable which may have caused B which a person did not consider or control for.) But it may be also for another reason (a cognitive bias for example).
You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the
same thing happened.
Technically you could replicate the experiment to support the original claim. However if you can't repeat the same experiment and get the same results they are irreproducible or not replicable, and weakens the strength of the original results and claim. If the person tells you that the result is not a general phenomenon, but simply a genuine phenomenon that happened once, eg., "It may not work for you but I swear it happened to me", then the claim/anecdote is unfalsifiable.
Unfalsifiability and irreproducibility are somewhat related.
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you're talking about is, as alluded to in your question title, the fallacy of anecdotal evidence which the website Your Logical Fallacy Is describes as:
You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.
Or, as I put it, anecdotal evidence isn't.
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
First of all, do you really mean false correlations? After all, the examples you gave might actually not be false. It is quite possible that your antivirus program is indeed the reason you didn't get any computer viruses lately. A better example of a correlation that is definitely false might involve e.g. astrology (as in, My astrologer told me that today I should avoid Librans, and indeed I got into a fight with a Libran at work).
If you really meant false, the word you're thinking of might be spurious.
There's a fun website dedicated to such things, appropriately called Spurious Correlations.
If, on the other hand, you meant something more along the lines of possibly true but lacking sufficient evidence, then some relevant words are unsubstantiated, anecdotal, unfounded, speculative, apparent.
Incidentally, it would help if you indicated what sort of word you're looking for, i.e. whether it is a noun or an adjective.
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
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up vote
0
down vote
subjective OED
b. Existing in the mind only, without anything real to correspond to
it; illusory, fanciful.
As in:
"Your statement is subjective!"
and
"Our methodology was computational at the beginning and subjective
at the end." Washington Post
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
add a comment |Â
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
There is an exact expression for the circumstance you describe.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
No, I know: it is not a word. And, yes, it is Latin, not English.
It means
After this, therefore because of this.
It is, even now, the expression for a logical fallacy.
No standard English expression has replaced this precise description of the logical howler.
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
There is an exact expression for the circumstance you describe.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
No, I know: it is not a word. And, yes, it is Latin, not English.
It means
After this, therefore because of this.
It is, even now, the expression for a logical fallacy.
No standard English expression has replaced this precise description of the logical howler.
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
There is an exact expression for the circumstance you describe.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
No, I know: it is not a word. And, yes, it is Latin, not English.
It means
After this, therefore because of this.
It is, even now, the expression for a logical fallacy.
No standard English expression has replaced this precise description of the logical howler.
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
There is an exact expression for the circumstance you describe.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
No, I know: it is not a word. And, yes, it is Latin, not English.
It means
After this, therefore because of this.
It is, even now, the expression for a logical fallacy.
No standard English expression has replaced this precise description of the logical howler.
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
edited 2 days ago
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
answered 2 days ago
Tuffy
2,5021512
2,5021512
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
From here: "Correlation does not imply causation is the logically valid idea that events which coincide with each other are not necessarily caused by each other. The form of fallacy that it addresses is known as post hoc, ergo propter hoc." (In other words, correlation does not imply causation is the English expression commonly used for this fallacy.)
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
@JasonBassford Yes indeed. And this, in turn, leads to the simple statistical caution to say that even where the occurrence of two phenomena rises and falls in in similar proportions, the most we should attribute to them is an ‘association’ - that they are ‘associated’. Nevertheless, ‘post hoc ergo propter hoc’ can even be used adjectivally: this, “that is a post hoc ergo propter hoc argumentâ€Â, or “Your reasoning was post hoc ergo propter hocâ€Â. I don’t think any talks about a ‘correlation fallacy’. Perhaps we should, given the post hoc propter hoc pandemic!
– Tuffy
yesterday
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
I think this is what i was looking for "A logical fallacy"
– Steve Main
15 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you've described is an example of many things. I'll just list a few. I'll bold certain important terms. In research experiment terminology it's a Type 1 error, also known as a false positive. They've accepted the hypothesis that A causes B, and if it's not true, then it's a false positive. This conclusion arrived at by a person is most likely due to a confounding variable (another variable which may have caused B which a person did not consider or control for.) But it may be also for another reason (a cognitive bias for example).
You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the
same thing happened.
Technically you could replicate the experiment to support the original claim. However if you can't repeat the same experiment and get the same results they are irreproducible or not replicable, and weakens the strength of the original results and claim. If the person tells you that the result is not a general phenomenon, but simply a genuine phenomenon that happened once, eg., "It may not work for you but I swear it happened to me", then the claim/anecdote is unfalsifiable.
Unfalsifiability and irreproducibility are somewhat related.
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you've described is an example of many things. I'll just list a few. I'll bold certain important terms. In research experiment terminology it's a Type 1 error, also known as a false positive. They've accepted the hypothesis that A causes B, and if it's not true, then it's a false positive. This conclusion arrived at by a person is most likely due to a confounding variable (another variable which may have caused B which a person did not consider or control for.) But it may be also for another reason (a cognitive bias for example).
You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the
same thing happened.
Technically you could replicate the experiment to support the original claim. However if you can't repeat the same experiment and get the same results they are irreproducible or not replicable, and weakens the strength of the original results and claim. If the person tells you that the result is not a general phenomenon, but simply a genuine phenomenon that happened once, eg., "It may not work for you but I swear it happened to me", then the claim/anecdote is unfalsifiable.
Unfalsifiability and irreproducibility are somewhat related.
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
What you've described is an example of many things. I'll just list a few. I'll bold certain important terms. In research experiment terminology it's a Type 1 error, also known as a false positive. They've accepted the hypothesis that A causes B, and if it's not true, then it's a false positive. This conclusion arrived at by a person is most likely due to a confounding variable (another variable which may have caused B which a person did not consider or control for.) But it may be also for another reason (a cognitive bias for example).
You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the
same thing happened.
Technically you could replicate the experiment to support the original claim. However if you can't repeat the same experiment and get the same results they are irreproducible or not replicable, and weakens the strength of the original results and claim. If the person tells you that the result is not a general phenomenon, but simply a genuine phenomenon that happened once, eg., "It may not work for you but I swear it happened to me", then the claim/anecdote is unfalsifiable.
Unfalsifiability and irreproducibility are somewhat related.
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
What you've described is an example of many things. I'll just list a few. I'll bold certain important terms. In research experiment terminology it's a Type 1 error, also known as a false positive. They've accepted the hypothesis that A causes B, and if it's not true, then it's a false positive. This conclusion arrived at by a person is most likely due to a confounding variable (another variable which may have caused B which a person did not consider or control for.) But it may be also for another reason (a cognitive bias for example).
You can't go back in time and then not take medicine and see if the
same thing happened.
Technically you could replicate the experiment to support the original claim. However if you can't repeat the same experiment and get the same results they are irreproducible or not replicable, and weakens the strength of the original results and claim. If the person tells you that the result is not a general phenomenon, but simply a genuine phenomenon that happened once, eg., "It may not work for you but I swear it happened to me", then the claim/anecdote is unfalsifiable.
Unfalsifiability and irreproducibility are somewhat related.
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
answered 2 days ago
Zebrafish
5,9051627
5,9051627
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you're talking about is, as alluded to in your question title, the fallacy of anecdotal evidence which the website Your Logical Fallacy Is describes as:
You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.
Or, as I put it, anecdotal evidence isn't.
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
What you're talking about is, as alluded to in your question title, the fallacy of anecdotal evidence which the website Your Logical Fallacy Is describes as:
You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.
Or, as I put it, anecdotal evidence isn't.
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
What you're talking about is, as alluded to in your question title, the fallacy of anecdotal evidence which the website Your Logical Fallacy Is describes as:
You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.
Or, as I put it, anecdotal evidence isn't.
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
What you're talking about is, as alluded to in your question title, the fallacy of anecdotal evidence which the website Your Logical Fallacy Is describes as:
You used a personal experience or an isolated example instead of a sound argument or compelling evidence.
Or, as I put it, anecdotal evidence isn't.
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
edited 2 days ago
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
answered 2 days ago
Roger Sinasohn
8,00311542
8,00311542
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
First of all, do you really mean false correlations? After all, the examples you gave might actually not be false. It is quite possible that your antivirus program is indeed the reason you didn't get any computer viruses lately. A better example of a correlation that is definitely false might involve e.g. astrology (as in, My astrologer told me that today I should avoid Librans, and indeed I got into a fight with a Libran at work).
If you really meant false, the word you're thinking of might be spurious.
There's a fun website dedicated to such things, appropriately called Spurious Correlations.
If, on the other hand, you meant something more along the lines of possibly true but lacking sufficient evidence, then some relevant words are unsubstantiated, anecdotal, unfounded, speculative, apparent.
Incidentally, it would help if you indicated what sort of word you're looking for, i.e. whether it is a noun or an adjective.
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
First of all, do you really mean false correlations? After all, the examples you gave might actually not be false. It is quite possible that your antivirus program is indeed the reason you didn't get any computer viruses lately. A better example of a correlation that is definitely false might involve e.g. astrology (as in, My astrologer told me that today I should avoid Librans, and indeed I got into a fight with a Libran at work).
If you really meant false, the word you're thinking of might be spurious.
There's a fun website dedicated to such things, appropriately called Spurious Correlations.
If, on the other hand, you meant something more along the lines of possibly true but lacking sufficient evidence, then some relevant words are unsubstantiated, anecdotal, unfounded, speculative, apparent.
Incidentally, it would help if you indicated what sort of word you're looking for, i.e. whether it is a noun or an adjective.
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
First of all, do you really mean false correlations? After all, the examples you gave might actually not be false. It is quite possible that your antivirus program is indeed the reason you didn't get any computer viruses lately. A better example of a correlation that is definitely false might involve e.g. astrology (as in, My astrologer told me that today I should avoid Librans, and indeed I got into a fight with a Libran at work).
If you really meant false, the word you're thinking of might be spurious.
There's a fun website dedicated to such things, appropriately called Spurious Correlations.
If, on the other hand, you meant something more along the lines of possibly true but lacking sufficient evidence, then some relevant words are unsubstantiated, anecdotal, unfounded, speculative, apparent.
Incidentally, it would help if you indicated what sort of word you're looking for, i.e. whether it is a noun or an adjective.
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
First of all, do you really mean false correlations? After all, the examples you gave might actually not be false. It is quite possible that your antivirus program is indeed the reason you didn't get any computer viruses lately. A better example of a correlation that is definitely false might involve e.g. astrology (as in, My astrologer told me that today I should avoid Librans, and indeed I got into a fight with a Libran at work).
If you really meant false, the word you're thinking of might be spurious.
There's a fun website dedicated to such things, appropriately called Spurious Correlations.
If, on the other hand, you meant something more along the lines of possibly true but lacking sufficient evidence, then some relevant words are unsubstantiated, anecdotal, unfounded, speculative, apparent.
Incidentally, it would help if you indicated what sort of word you're looking for, i.e. whether it is a noun or an adjective.
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
answered 2 days ago
linguisticturn
2,938927
2,938927
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up vote
0
down vote
subjective OED
b. Existing in the mind only, without anything real to correspond to
it; illusory, fanciful.
As in:
"Your statement is subjective!"
and
"Our methodology was computational at the beginning and subjective
at the end." Washington Post
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
subjective OED
b. Existing in the mind only, without anything real to correspond to
it; illusory, fanciful.
As in:
"Your statement is subjective!"
and
"Our methodology was computational at the beginning and subjective
at the end." Washington Post
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
subjective OED
b. Existing in the mind only, without anything real to correspond to
it; illusory, fanciful.
As in:
"Your statement is subjective!"
and
"Our methodology was computational at the beginning and subjective
at the end." Washington Post
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
subjective OED
b. Existing in the mind only, without anything real to correspond to
it; illusory, fanciful.
As in:
"Your statement is subjective!"
and
"Our methodology was computational at the beginning and subjective
at the end." Washington Post
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
answered 2 days ago
lbf
12.7k21353
12.7k21353
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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Still haven't found your word? There's also the word "factoid". It has two meanings but in relation to your question it's a claim to truth that's been circulated so widely that it becomes embedded in pop culture and widely believed. The most famous example of this is probably that the Great Wall of China can be seen from the moon with the naked eye.
– Zebrafish
2 days ago
I'd start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlative-based_fallacies
– MetaEd♦
2 days ago
There is a term 'non-causal'. But it is specialised and does not express complete dissociation of variables and it seems to me that it would not be an accurate answer, here.
– Nigel J
yesterday
I think I found the word that I am looking for "A logical fallacy" thanks everyone
– Steve Main
15 hours ago