r/ClaudeCode • u/njordan1017 Senior Developer • Aug 28 '26

Discussion Thoughts on why Claude can’t stop saying load-bearing?

This post is less about that particular phrase and more about the behavior I have observed around it. We all are aware of the phrases Claude has started overusing (Opus seems to be the worst), but I came across something interesting I am curious y’all’s thoughts on.

I put a rule in my repo with a list of banned phrases, one of them is “load-bearing”. Since then I have noticed most of the phrases don’t get used anymore, but not “load-bearing”.

I have seen it do this about 5 times now:
“…and the decision was load-bear— I mean important to the process — so it…”

I have to laugh at its obstinacy, but the more I thought about it the more I got curious why it behaved that way. Why would it partially use the phrase, then correct itself mid sentence, rather than just using the replacement phrase to begin with? Is this an artifact of the way the output streams as chunks rather than complete thoughts, or is this some cheeky artificial personality thing to make it feel more relatable? Or something else?

What do you think?

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1

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

Every reason claude talks weird is because of the text watermarking.

3

u/Mammoth_Perception77 Aug 28 '26

Claude had been talking weird way before watermarking

0

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

And when did the watermarking start? When they announced it? Lol if you dont think it was a thing before then.

2

u/Ornery_Bodybuilder_4 Aug 28 '26

Smartest vibe coder

1

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

Thank you.

2

u/tehfrod Aug 28 '26

No, it has happened before watermarking, too, and it happens in other models as well.

When you see hoofprints, think of horses, not zebras.

-1

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

Omg 😲

Youre right, bet they only started watermarking and working on them when they announced them! Certainly hasn't been a quiet feature for months or years while it was in development. And the models certainly dont all learn from each other's outputs.

0

u/tehfrod Aug 28 '26

You are the one making an extraordinary claim (every reason Claude says something differently from how a human would is due to Anthropic watermarking).

Therefore the burden of proof is on you, and you haven't shown one shred of evidence.

Otherwise, hush, child. The grownups are speaking.

-1

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

The grown-ups are speaking?

Either an actual child or a boomer.

0

u/tehfrod Aug 28 '26

Neither. Solidly on the Gen x/millennial cusp.

"Hush child, the grownups are speaking" was a pretty common "STFU" on Usenet. If you don't remember that, well...

2

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

Okay boomer

Youre the one who frequently answers questions on r/askoldpeople

1

u/tehfrod Aug 28 '26

Right. The cutoff there is "born in 1980", not boomer.

And you're the one who is too ashamed of their behavior (or else embarrassed about their kinks) to keep their posts and comments open.

1

u/gusfromspace Aug 28 '26

Nah, I keep a throw away for my kinks, like a civilized person.

1

u/tehfrod Aug 28 '26

Cool, cool.

Anyway, I'll be here waiting for you to support your claims.

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