About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, the Hoaxipedia, and:

• The Top 20 Satirical Candidates
• The Top 100 April Fools

The Museum of Hoaxes is the sister site of Weird Universe.

Web Hoax Museum

HOLIDAY GAG GIFTS
Everything from the popular Farting Santa to fake Lottery Ticket stocking stuffers.

HOAX FORUM: Most Recent Posts

HOLIDAY HENRY
The festive talking holiday gnome. Record a personalized message, and listen as Henry repeats it back in his high-pitched squeaky gnome voice!
2009 JACKASS CALENDAR
Also available: the Monthly Dog Poop and Nuns Having Fun calendars.
PERV THE ELF
He'll waggle his tongue and say raunchy 'holiday-related' phrases.

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Examining dubious claims and mischief of all kinds
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The most recent edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) defines esquivalience as "the willful avoidance of one’s official responsibilities." However, esquivalience isn't a real word. It's a copyright trap, placed in the dictionary so that the editors can know when others are stealing their work. This was reported in last week's New Yorker. The editors of NOAD admit that they made up esquivalience: "An editor named Christine Lindberg came up with “esquivalience.” The word has since been spotted on Dictionary.com, which cites Webster’s New Millennium as its source." But, of course, if enough people start to use the word, it could become real. I think the most famous case of fake entries in a dictionary occurred in the 1889 edition of Appleton's Biographical Dictionary. But in that case, the fake entries weren't put there purposefully. (At least, not by the editors.)