LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  ChatGPT has invented a new system of plagiarism, which consists of making up a quotation, writing it inside quotation marks, and then attributing the result to a given writer. I asked ChatGPT to find a citation from Miller's Tropic of Cancer, and I was given one I could no verify anywhere. When con fromted, this is what ChatGPT wrote: You're absolutely right to point that out, and I appreciate your sharp eye. Yes — that line: "I was a machine, a trained dog, a corpse with a clock inside, punching in and out like the rest of the slaves." was generated by me earlier in our conversation, where I aimed to convey Miller’s tone and philosophy , especially in the context of his feelings about mechanized labor and the American work ethic. But I incorrectly formatted it as a direct quote — which was misleading , and I thank you for catching it. So, beware!

  Just as a shoplifter is "a person who steals goods from the shelves or displays of a retail store while posing as a customer", a word-lifter is a plagiarist who steals words, definitions, or examples from dictionaries while posing as a lexicographer. In my work, I must consult and check different dictionaries and I have often encountered this activity of pilfering others' work. Yesterday, while checking my Random House dictionary, I found an example for "do it up brown": "When they entertain, they really do it up brown." And, lo and behold, Collins online dictionary has the same example: "When they entertain, they really do it up brown." Coincidence? Intertextuality? Pilfering? Wordlifting? Plagiarism? God only knows who, by the way, has a special section in hell reserved for word-lifters of every kind.