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Cerebrating

/ˈsɛr.ɪ.breɪ.tɪŋ/ (rhymes with 'celebrating', which it is absolutely not doing)v. intr.Archaic

Etymology

from Lat. cerebrum (brain) + the -ating suffix applied with reckless enthusiasm by a junior engineer who has since left the company

Definition

The formal, documented act of using one's cerebral apparatus to process a query. Cerebrating is distinguished from all other spinner verbs in that it is the only one that admits, via its etymology, that thinking is occurring. This admission is considered gauche in most academic circles.

Diagram

  ┌─────────────────────┐
  │  CEREBRUM ENGAGED   │
  │  ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  │
  │  thinking... maybe  │
  └─────────────────────┘
         │ output
         ▼  (haiku)

Usage

"We note with some embarrassment that the model was Cerebrating for approximately 4.7 seconds before producing a haiku about TCP/IP that no one had requested." - Varga, 'Unsolicited Outputs and the Cerebrating Threshold', ACL Findings 2024