Changes that twist, bend, or alter the original shape, sound, or meaning of something; also false or exaggerated versions of the truth.
From Latin 'distortus' (dis- meaning apart + tortus meaning twisted). The word emerged in the 1500s for physical bending, then expanded to include mental and perceptual twisting like lies and misrepresentations.
Guitar distortion literally twists the electrical signal into a funky shape, and that's why the word works perfectly for lies—they're truth twisted out of shape—making the physics of sound waves a metaphor for how misinformation damages facts.
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