Slanguage: Why AI’s stylistic negation — ‘it’s not X, it’s Y’ — is both annoying and doesn’t work
Slanguage: Why AI’s stylistic negation — ‘it’s not X, it’s Y’ — is both annoying and doesn’t work
Publish Date: 2026-04-20 15:00:00
Source Domain: theconversation.com
- The article highlights the common usage of the phrase “It’s not X, it’s Y” on LinkedIn, particularly in AI-generated texts, noting it as an overused rhetorical pattern that can become annoying and confusing.
- Cognitive psychology suggests that negation does not erase the original concept from the brain; instead, the brain processes the negated concept first before possibly moving past it.
- A study from 2003 found that negated concepts persist in readers’ mental models until additional processing time and contextual clues are provided.
- A classic psychological experiment in 1987 demonstrated how suppressing a concept can lead to it being remembered more, similar to how repeated negations can anchor the negated idea before the intended alternative is fully processed.
- The article emphasizes that negation impairs information retention and suggests that describing what something is without using negation is a more effective cognitive strategy for communication.
- The proliferation of similar AI-assisted texts highlights a broader problem where repetitive formulaic rhetoric in public discourse fails to convey valuable information clearly and effectively.
