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I understand that it's a "piece of information", but does it also imply, that the information is valuable? Can a paragraph of text about a subject be a knowledge nugget? If so, can it contain several small pieces of information, or it must be information about single subject? In other words: knowledge nugget is just one simple fact, or several facts about single subject?

Is this a common, neutral expression, used in daily life, or it sounds odd?

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A knowledge nugget is a small item or piece of useful knowledge in categories of interest to the user. It's "business trainers' jargon", not a general purpose idiom. I think most people would say they had a useful snippet for a small, simple, interesting item of information. – FumbleFingers Feb 22 '12 at 22:17
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+1 @FumbleFingers that's a knowledge nugget. – Kris Feb 23 '12 at 6:25
Don't use it in daily life. Use it in the appropriate context to the desired effect. – Kris Feb 23 '12 at 6:27
Thanks FumbleFingers, I didn't know the "useful snippet" expression. – Artur Nowak Feb 23 '12 at 7:02
I've used the phrase "nugget of knowledge" in ordinary conversation. I was describing to a colleague how most of the material he was reading for a project was, to be polite, compost, but it contained a few nuggets of useful knowledge. "knowledge nugget", however, sounds like it belongs on a Powerpoint slide. – Optimal Cynic Feb 23 '12 at 9:21
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Nugget has multiple senses that include

(countable) A small, compact chunk or clump. (eg) a gold nugget
(countable) A tidbit of something valuable. (eg) a nugget of wisdom

As a consequence, one can argue either way regarding implication of value. Of course, your example, knowledge nugget is closely analogous to "a nugget of wisdom" (an example from wiktionary). The definition offered in a link in a previous comment, that "A knowledge nugget is a small item or piece of useful knowledge in categories of interest to the user", also implies value.

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Thank you jwpat7, would you agree with FumbleFingers that it's "business trainers' jargon"? If I would say "nugget of knowledge" in response to friend's story, which is interesting to me, would I sound odd? – Artur Nowak Feb 23 '12 at 7:04
@ArturNowak - I can't answer the latter question, as I don't know how you usually sound, but can say that using "nugget of knowledge" occasionally (eg, a few times per year) in conversation won't itself make you sound odd. – jwpat7 Feb 23 '12 at 7:15
@ArturNowak: I agree with jwpat that occasional usage of "nugget of knowledge" is well within the bounds of normal conversation (though I still think "snippet [of information]" is more common). It's the condensed form "knowledge nugget" that strikes me as more "business training course lecturer's jargon". – FumbleFingers Feb 23 '12 at 14:34
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Thanks, I thought that "nugget of knowledge" sounds a little pretentious, probably it does when used too often :-) – Artur Nowak Feb 23 '12 at 20:00
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I don't think that nugget implies value. Gold nuggets are only valuable because they are gold. Chicken nuggets on the other hand, well, I wouldn't call them valuable.

A knowledge nugget implies that the information is small and self contained. That is what nugget implies to me. A nugget of knowledge wouldn't need any more explaining to be understood, and it wouldn't take long to understand.

In reply to FumbleFingers: Certainly in its origin of the gold rush in America, nugget meant something valuable. However these days you can have a nugget of dung, shit, hate, and even nuggets of bile and pain, so I doubt that all nuggets are valuable. I maintain that a nugget's worth is based on what it is a nugget of, not that it is a nugget.

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-1: Chambers - Nugget: a lump, esp. of gold; anything small but valuable (fig.) Chicken nuggets may have devalued the word, but are we to allow ad-men to control the language? – FumbleFingers Feb 23 '12 at 3:57
@FumbleFingers: not ad-men, but common usage. – Matt Эллен Feb 23 '12 at 9:07
I think of a nugget as a small, hard, chunky object. There are a few football (Australian, rugby and rugby league variants) players nicknamed Nugget for exactly that reason. The value comes from what the nugget is made of, not its nuggetyness. – Optimal Cynic Feb 23 '12 at 10:04
@Optimal Cynic: I didn't include the rest of my UK Chambers definition there - interestingly, it goes on to say (Australian) thick-set, stocky. – FumbleFingers Feb 23 '12 at 14:16

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