Garnishing
/ˈɡɑːr.nɪʃ.ɪŋ.ui/v. trans.Common
Etymology
From Old Fr. garnir (to furnish, to warn) + culinary-computational metaphor introduced in the Anthropic Style Guide Addendum (2024), section 4.2: 'Decorative Output Behaviors'
Definition
The process by which Claude adds finishing touches to an otherwise complete response, including but not limited to: a closing pleasantry, an unsolicited caveat, a brief disclaimer about AI limitations, and occasionally a small sprig of metaphorical parsley. The garnish does not alter the nutritional content of the response.
Diagram
┌──────────────────────────┐ │ [ANSWER] │ │ + │ │ [CAVEAT SPRIG] │ │ + │ │ [DISCLAIMER FOAM] │ │ ========================│ │ a beautifully plated │ │ response │ └──────────────────────────┘
Usage
"The model spent 6.1 seconds generating the core answer and a further 9.8 seconds garnishing it with what the postmortem describes as 'an unnecessary but structurally sound hedge about the nature of certainty itself.'" - Engineering Postmortem EPM-2024-0091