Discussion
I need more LLMisms to use in actual focused idea-dense writing.
* em dashes
* three of things
* it's not X, it's Y
what others?
these are normal basic rhetoric tricks that the chatbot has overlearnt and applies to zero-content writing. but i feel like being annoying.
@davidgerard Liberally applied **boldface,** even where it **doesn’t** make **sense.**
@davidgerard using more lore long words than usual
@davidgerard I loved a good em dash way before the "AI” embarrassment — and my love is stronger than ever now.
@davidgerard "load-bearing"?
Bullet points, especially emoji bullet points or paragraphs that would work just as well if you removed the bullets.
@dolls.in.sudoparadise.fi i just need to speak the language of emohi bullet points more fluently
🌊🐴 You're absolutely right!!
@davidgerard You're absolutely right to point out that LLMs frequently overuse normal basic rhetorical tricks. So let's look at why that might be!
@davidgerard “this is a real <problem>”
key points, key issues, key blah blah blah
everything is maximum importance and maximum urgency
@davidgerard I've heard unnecessary follow-up questions are a big one.
> You're so right to notice that
> <Overly verbose explanation>
> Would you like to hear about <barely related topic>, too?
@davidgerard Pew Research have a section about it on https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/08/20/how-much-of-the-internet-is-written-with-ai/
Other than the ones you’ve mentioned, they cite:
- Oxford commas see a 63% increase.
- Certain words that AI models like to use (such as “delve,” “interplay” or “testament”) have more than doubled in usage.
https://www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/2026/08/20/how-much-of-the-internet-is-written-with-ai/
@urlyman @davidgerard Dammit! Those clankers'll have to rip the Oxford comma from my cold, dead, and clammy hands!
@davidgerard Over-use of the term “load-bearing”.
@skington i use that one all the time anyway, obvoiusly need to turn it up
@davidgerard Tons of unnecessary signposting:
Here's the main point:
Here's what most people miss:
The takeaway:
There is something LLMs and annoying 'journalistic' writers both love to overuse. However, you cannot hit readers with it right away. It needs a little bit of a buildup. I bet you can alraedy guess what it is.
It is the one-line paragraph.
@davidgerard @bstark The one line paragraph made sense when reading on a small screen, which is why journalists embraced it. Time to give it up
@davidgerard And honestly? That's powerful.
@davidgerard: I've seen a heavy use of emojis in LinkedIn-style corporate slop that I suspect to have been written by an LLM. But I'm not clear whether that's a sufficiently defining attribute.
* "Why this works" as a minor-level headline
* hyperbole ("the best way to", "perfectly fitting ...", "greatly improved", ...)
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