Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A computer-science paper that consistently writes 'haze figuring' instead of 'cloud computing' and 'profound learning' instead of 'deep learning'.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Non-standard terminology proposed in good faith by a new field, defined on first use, and used consistently.
Editorial commentary
Coined by Cabanac, Labbe and Magazinov (2021), tortured phrases serve as a forensic signature of machine-generated or machine-paraphrased text. Canonical examples include 'counterfeit consciousness' (artificial intelligence), 'irregular esteem' (random value), 'colossal information' (big data), 'profound learning' (deep learning), and 'mean square mistake' (mean square error). The 'Problematic Paper Screener' maintained by Cabanac et al. indexes tortured-phrase occurrences across the literature.
References
- Cabanac, Labbe & Magazinov (2021) 'Tortured phrases: A dubious writing style emerging in science'
- Problematic Paper Screener (Cabanac et al., ongoing)
Also known as
torture phrases · tortured terminology · paraphrased nonsense
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Tortured phrases"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/tortured-phrases" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Tortured phrases",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/tortured-phrases",
"description": "Unusual paraphrases of established technical terminology that result from automated synonym substitution, often used to evade plagiarism detection. A phrase is tortured when a domain reader recognises it as a mangled rendition of a standard term.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-integrity-and-misconduct/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/tortured-phrases",
"sameAs": [
"torture phrases",
"tortured terminology",
"paraphrased nonsense"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
