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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3971 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 19, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I just started toying with it over the weekend:

  • Constructing recipes for those dishes where everyone's grandmother has a different version that is the "real" one; e.g. gumbo, carne guisada, and chili.

  • Helping to summarize opposition arguments, though I have discovered this requires tweaking the wording of your questions and still generates a ton of ridiculous disclaimers and throat-clearing by the bot.

  • Getting specific terms for peculiar phenomena, such as "proprietary eponym"

My next attempt will be to see if it can help me diagnose issues with my other computer.

proprietary eponym

Is this the same as a genericized trademark? I've never encountered "proprietary eponym" and I think "genericized trademark" would be more easily understood.

Yeah, same thing. I couldn't remember either term when I gave it my query.

I get good summaries by just pasting the content along with the word "Summarize" or "Summarize the above" at the end.

If you use a more imperative rather than conversational tone, it is more likely to do what you ask, rather than pad out the response with empty patter.

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