Hoax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A
hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth.[SUP]
[1][/SUP] It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment,[SUP]
[1][/SUP] or
rumors,
urban legends,
pseudosciences or
April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.[SUP]
[2][/SUP] A
hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth.[SUP]
[1][/SUP] It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment,[SUP]
[1][/SUP] or
rumors,
urban legends,
pseudosciences or
April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.[SUP]
[2][/SUP]
The British
philologist Robert Nares (1753–1829) says that the word
hoax was coined in the late 18th century as a contraction of the verb
hocus, which means "to cheat",[SUP]
[3][/SUP] "to impose upon"[SUP]
[3][/SUP] or "to befuddle often with drugged liquor".[SUP]
[4][/SUP]
Hocus is a shortening of the
magic incantation hocus pocus,[SUP]
[4][/SUP] which in turn is a contraction of the phrase
Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo, mentioned in
Thomas Ady's 1656 book
A candle in the dark, or a treatise on the nature of witches and witchcraft.[SUP]
[5][/SUP] According to the book, the
Latin-like gibberish phrase was uttered by a
conjuror to distract his audience from his
sleight of hand.[SUP]
[5][/SUP]
Alternatively,
hoax could have been derived from the
Irish Gaelic olcas, pronounced
olkəs and
h-olkəs, an adjective used to describe behaviour similar to mischief, naughtiness, spite, wickedness, evil.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] Similarly,
hocus could have been derived from the same word.[SUP]
[6][/SUP]
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