Fiddle-faddling
/ˈfɪd.əl.ˌfæd.lɪŋ/ (both components carry equal stress; neither is more justified than the other)v. (defective)Colloquial
Etymology
From Middle Eng. fidel (to trifle) + faddle (to trifle, separately) + recursive combination producing a compound that means approximately 'to trifle with additional trifling,' attested in Claude Code spinner logs beginning November 2023
Definition
A low-stakes, iterative adjustment phase in which Claude makes a sequence of minor modifications to an existing output or plan, each individually inconsequential and collectively approaching but not reaching the threshold of meaningful revision. Fiddle-faddling is the only spinner verb that engineers have proposed as a potential infinite loop condition, and the proposal was not immediately dismissed.
Diagram
margin: 8px ──► 9px ──► 8px ──► 10px
│
◄──────┘
margin: 8px
('carefully optimized')Usage
"The model was observed fiddle-faddling with the CSS margin values for 23 seconds, cycling through 11 pixel increments before settling on the original value, which it then described as 'carefully optimized.'" - Huang, J., 'Cyclical Micro-Revision in Code Generation Tasks: A Case Study,' Engineering Postmortem #TR-2024-089, Anthropic