# Term of art versus reflexive tic > Source-anchored research for Term of art versus reflexive tic. Run status: COMPLETED. Parent: [LLM engineering-metaphor tics: term of art versus reflexive tic](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-isms-metaphor-tics/) · 4 facets · 6 facts · page: https://llms-explorer.com/tree/term-of-art-versus-reflexive-tic/ ## How it works - Scoping: the tic matters less when prose is instrumental (clear memos); the author argues the real distinction is whether the thinking is authentic, not whether style carries AI fingerprints. (low confidence) — [source](https://benjaminste.in/blog/2026/02/12/i-was-wrong-about-llm-writing/) ## Measurements and reference values - Across 60,000 Claude turns (1.7M words), 'load-bearing' appeared 188 times (0.25% of turns), reportedly rising from Opus 4.6 (Feb 2026); this is one author's count, not a controlled study. (low confidence) (verified as of 2026-09-23) — [source](https://mareksuppa.com/til/load-bearing/) - Frequency against a pre-LLM baseline is a sound way to separate tic from term: a study of 15M PubMed abstracts found style verbs/adjectives (e.g. 'delves') spiking after 2022, implying at least 13.5% of 2024 abstracts were LLM-processed (a lower bound, up to 40% in some subcorpora). (medium confidence) — [source](https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.07016) ## Problems, failure modes and limitations - 'Load-bearing' has legitimate pre-LLM software use (Kaufman, Radcliff 2017, Raymond 2019); the metaphor accurately names dependencies and single points of failure, so the phrase itself is a valid term of art. (high confidence) — [source](https://mareksuppa.com/til/load-bearing/) - Antipattern: once a phrase is recognisable as model output, using it reads as 'failing to hide the autocomplete', regardless of whether the metaphor is apt. (low confidence) — [source](https://mareksuppa.com/til/load-bearing/) ## Facts and statements - Test for a legitimate metaphor: can you think the thought without it, and does the writer see it as a metaphor ('load-bearing but not load-hiding')? A reflexive use disguises itself as literal description. (medium confidence) — [source](https://pipthefox.com/posts/load-bearing-metaphors/)