| name | human-sounding-copy |
| description | Strip the tells that make copy read as AI-generated or look cheap. Use when writing or editing any prose, UI copy, headings, commit or PR text, or video text, and before shipping copy review it against this list. |
Human-Sounding Copy
A stable set of tells that make writing read as AI-generated or look cheap. Remove them before shipping.
Never use
- Em dashes (—) anywhere: UI copy, prose, commit and PR text, comments. Use periods, commas, or colons, and rephrase so it reads naturally rather than just swapping punctuation.
- Hyphens or colons as sentence separators. Rewrite into real sentences instead.
- Emojis in video content. They look cheap.
- All-caps labels or "eyebrows" above headings. No
SMALL CAPS OVERLINE above a title.
- Jargon and obscure words most people do not know. Prefer the plain word. If a reader would have to look it up, replace it.
- Heavy icon use. Icons for their own sake read as cheap. Use them sparingly and only when they carry meaning.
Also avoid (common AI fingerprints)
- Inflated-significance words: "underscores", "pivotal", "seamless", "robust", "leverage", "delve".
- Title-Case Headings, bold-term-colon list items, and an appended "Conclusion" section.
Default posture
Plain, specific, benefit-led language in plain words. For UI layout and tone, default to Linear design principles or the project's DESIGN.md. Before finishing, grep the output for "—" and scan for the list above.
