What a tangled web they weave

April 15, 2017 @ 11:04 pm · Filed by under Computational linguistics, Elephant semifics, Humor

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…when neural nets are recursive:

Some other recursively induced hallucinations —

ュース repeated gives successively:

Juice
News
Auspicious
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Yu Susui Suu Suu Su
Yu Susui Suu Suu Suu Su
Susui Suu Suu Suu Suu Su
Susui Suu Suu Suu Suu Suu Su
Susui Suu Suu Suu Suu Suu Suu Su
Susuue with the airport
It is a good thing to see and do.
It is a good idea to have a good view of the surrounding area.
It is a good thing for you to do.
It is good to know the things you do not do.
It is good to know the things you do not mind.
It is a good idea to have a good view of the surrounding area.

Clearly a new genre of poetry is born. From ャス:

Us
Chasus
Chasuasu
Chanusasuasu
Jurasurus
Jurasurasusu
Jurasurasususu
Jurasurasususu
Jurasurasusususu
The sky chase supernatural
Worth seeing is not good. Jasusturus swasher
Soundtracks of the sun
It 's a good thing.
It 's a sort of a sweet sun.
It is a surprisingly good thing.
It is a surreptitious one,
It is a photograph of the photograph taken by a photograph
It is a photograph of the photograph taken by the photographer.
It is a photograph of the photograph taken by a photograph
It is a photograph of the photograph taken by a photograph
It is a photograph taken on the next page
This is a series of photographs of a series of photographs
This is a series of photographs of a series of photographs
This is a series of photographs of a series of photographs
This is a series of photographs of a series of photographs
This is a series of photographs of a series of photographs of a series of photographs

Not all of the poems are equally good. From には:

To
To
To
To
To the HA is to
in order to be on
in order to be on
in order to be on
in order to be on To To
To the ones To have on To To
To the ones To have on To To is not
To the ones To have on To To is not to
To the ones To have on To To is not available to
To To has no way To On To To On To To To To To To To
To To has no way To To To To To To To To To To To To
To the ones To the ones To the ones To the ones To the ones to the ones for
To the ones To the ones To the ones To the ones To the ones To the ones To
To To have no way To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no items in to which you are in To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no items on to To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no items on to To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no sessions on to To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no sessions on to To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
…
There are no sessions to visit To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no items on to To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
To Ha to Ha To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
There are no sectors to visit To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
…
To Hawaii is not to Hawaii To Hawaii To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To
To Hawaii To Hawaii To Hawaii To Hawaii To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To To

Though maybe chanted with the right background…

Update #2 — It works with Korean as well. Thus successive repetitions of 민심은 yield:

Public mind
The
The public mind is the public mind is the public mind
The public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind
The public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind,
The public mind is the public mind, the public mind is the public mind, the public mind is the public mind.
The public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind,
The public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind
The public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind
The people are the people, the people, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts,
The people are the people, the people, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts, the hearts,
There is no need to worry about the people.
In the case of public opinion, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind, the public mind,
It is not the case that the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is the public mind is
In the case of public opinion, public mind is public mind, public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is
In the case of public service, the public service is called public service, while the public service is public service.
I think that it is a good idea to have a lot of people.
In the case of public opinion, public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind is public mind
I am a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen, a citizen,
I think that it is a good idea to have a lot of people in your life.
I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen,
I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen,
I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen,
In addition, there is no need to worry about the fact that the government is not responsible for the actions of the public.
I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen, I am a citizen,

Update — more here.

 

April 15, 2017 @ 11:04 pm · Filed by under Computational linguistics, Elephant semifics, Humor


31 Comments

  1. Ben Zimmer said,

    April 15, 2017 @ 11:42 pm

    Works for me. More good stuff in later iterations…

    Dynasty Elements Elements Periodicals Transportation Periodic Depths of Eastern Crude Ecoguffle Ecoguffle Ecoguffee Ecoguegu Educational Transport Educational (link)

    Ezujou Pasteur Deep-sea Cucumber Distillery Deep-sea Cucumber Distiller Deep-sea Cucumber Distillation Deep-sea Cucumber Crude Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Crucifixion Eecuguet (link)

  2. Ben Zimmer said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 12:36 am

    I tried the experiment with another two-kana combination: えツ (e tsu). The results are downright poetic, if a little unsettling.

    A house
    Etsu
    Escorts
    Evangelion
    Escape to the world
    Electric roof top
    Eyes
    Eyes
    A terrible experience
    I miss you for a friend
    I'm Loveland
    I'm afraid to use it
    I loan it for you
    I miss you for a ___ ___ 0
    Irregular situation
    IMPORTANT NOT LIABILITIES
    I felt it was a big experience.
    Meanwhile Canoeing
    Meanwhile, it is a must do for you
    Meanwhile I can say that I am a
    Meanwhile, we are a
    Meanwhile, we are a
    Take a look at the top of the page
    I miss you for a moment.
    IMPORTANT: I can not go wrong.

    Iterations from then on return "IMPORTANT: I can not go wrong." followed by "A house," "Etsu," etc.

  3. AntC said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 1:27 am

    vaguely reminiscent of Weisenbaums' Eliza when you repeatedly typed in the same response. Eliza seemed to have a repertoire of 'stock phrases' (with insertable variants), eventually getting to stuff like HAL's "I think we should talk about this, Dave".

  4. Ethan said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 1:40 am

    Another found poem, starting with おけ.

    OK
    Giveaway
    Pickup
    Pickup
    Pickup
    Must get settled
    Make it easier than ever
    Always give away
    Make it easier than ever
    Pick up the burn
    Pick up the burning sauce
    Make sure you have an incense burn (3x)
    Make it easier than ever to make it easier than ever
    Pick up the burning bamboo burn
    Make it easier than ever to thank you

    [… some lines of mixed kana/english gibberish… then eventually]

    You can keep an incense from your housekeeper, make an incense treatment, make an incense treatment, give it to her.

    One odd thing about all of this is that nowhere in there is the actual translation of おけ (barrel/bucket/keg).

  5. إكتشف said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 1:45 am

    If you type it eight times, it becomes "Delicious breakfast early evening soup".
    Twelve times, then it's "Transportation Eastern maple Egg bag".
    Thirteen, "DECEAR CLEAR DOWN EGG".
    Fourteen, "Delicious antiperspir oeujeugyeu soujoueguen".

    I… I think this rabbit hole goes on forever.

  6. unekdoud said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 3:28 am

    Removing the first character from the 120-character one gives me

    Sugaruguoku Tokugoe Shuiguen Tokushige Tokugu Ekusen Koeniguoku Tokuguen Tokugaguen Ezujou Tokugaguen Ezujou Tokugaguen Ezujou Tokugaguen Ezujou Tokugaguen Ezujou Tokugaguen Ezujoujuu Ezujou Kagueguoku Ekogeegu Ezujou Ezueguoku Ekueguoku Ekueguoku Ekogeegu Ezueguoku Ekueguoku Ekeguegu Eekuguen

    and removing both the first and last gives

    Forecasted Foods Eastern Foods Eastern Foods Eastern Processes Periodicals Periodic Geckos Perceptions Periodicals Periodic Transit Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Periodic Eecuguet

    Yep, it's periodic.

  7. unekdoud said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 3:35 am

    Oh, and there's also ら 137 times, which just gives me
    "Understandable colorful coloring similarly phosphorophapose NPO NNGLYYou Hazen-Metal-Metallophones NorseMemoradazi-Seisakyo Kohyyyyenethiriseenaze"

    That could mean anything!

  8. Victor Mair said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 5:42 am

    When I first saw this, before Mark posted it, I said to myself: "Sadistic abuse of Google Translate. You can hear it in their voice". I'm glad that some of you are finding poetry in these recursions.

  9. MattF said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 6:45 am

    Neural net has a concussion.

  10. D.O. said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 7:58 am

    You put your nonsense in
    You get some nonsense out
    In, out, in, out
    That's what it's all about.

  11. Jamie said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 9:29 am

    With repeated しょ I get (with some duplicates removed):

    Cane
    Place
    Shosho
    Compilation
    Business class
    Lesson point of view
    Short tailoring
    Lesson point-of-first-year teacher training
    Lesson point-of-mouth training
    Lesson point-of-mouth _____ 0
    Lesson point-of-first-year teacher training
    Letter of confiscation, teacher training
    Lesson point of origin confirmation
    Lesson point of interest
    Lesson point-of-first-to-matter
    Letter of confidentiality, celebration, science and psychology
    Let 's talk a little bit about school trips overseas.
    Let 's talk a little bit over there.
    Let’s tall a little while ago
    Let 's discuss your schedule, cheerleading, science and psychology
    Thanksgiving classes
    Let 's talk a little bit overseas.
    Thanksgiving classroom summer event
    Let 's learn a little bit about collaterance, fresh fruit and vegetables over the past few years.

  12. leoboiko said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 10:00 am

    I had to try it with my own name to see the messages from the emerging AI who will kill us all. Here's the oracle for repeated interactions of れお:

    Leo.
    Faint.
    Let it be.
    Breido Aiyo. Beretau le etaro. Breido as a result.
    Blessed are we gotta love you.
    Breido Ayureo Osamu Osamu.
    Blessed are we gone are gone.
    Blessed are we gone are grateful.
    Blessed are we gone are we are gone.
    Blessed are we gone are we are gone Bet I.
    Bleedoare We're All We're Gonna Lose You.
    Bleedoare We're All We're Gonna O Lore We Love You.
    […] Bleed Ore We're All Better Better Blessed Blessed Boy.
    […] Bleed Ore We're All Better We Letter O Lie We O Loreto O Loreto Betto
    […] Bleedoare We're All We Lie We Lie We Lie We Lie me O Loreto O Loreto
    […]Bleedo れ お お お れ れ お れ お れ お れ お お お お っ お お お れ お お お お れ お お お っ お ぃ お れ お れ お お お お お お お お お お れ お お お お れ お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お お れ

    Not sure what that's all about then, but I'm fairly certain it's some sort of apocalyptic, Lovecraftian chant for our demise and I'm meant to intone it. Blessed are we gone we all better bleed we are gone are gone are gone. Faint. Let it go. O Lie! O Lore! O Ayureo! We Lie !We Are Gone! Iä! Iä! Fhtagn Iä! O Iä O O O!

  13. David Marjanović said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 11:27 am

    Jurasurus
    Jurasurasusu
    Jurasurasususu
    Jurasurasususu
    Jurasurasusususu

    "Jurassosaurus".

  14. unekdoud said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 11:48 am

    One more for the list: it works for Thai characters too, for instance ผำ repeated or ๅไ repeated. (I can't read Thai, so the resulting fake English is less funny to me.)

    [(myl) And see here for ไๅ repeated…]

  15. Rebecca said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 1:39 pm

    Perfect last line:

    ぬへ

    To nu
    To nimatode
    To nimatode
    I'm sorry to bother you
    I'm seriously sorry.
    I'm sorry for bothering to your day
    I am sorry to to.
    I am sorry for bothering to you
    I'm sorry for your continuing warm welcome

    [(myl) Or the same characters is the opposite order:

    へぬ "e nu"

    Nonsense
    Sorry
    To endure
    I am sorry
    I am sorry
    I am sorry
    I am sorry to have kept you waiting
    I am sorry
    I am sorry to keep you warm.
    Let's have a sunny day with you tomorrow

    ]

  16. Jichang Lulu said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 3:19 pm

    (くそ)^n, n = 20, 21, 23, 33, 35

    I'm afraid to talkinate her shoulderly shoulderly
    I'm afraid to talk how about please make a shove
    I'm afraid to tell you on my baby, please take your shoulder shoes off
    Please accept me on my account and looks.
    No matter butress shoot me baby, please do not shove me

  17. Rebecca said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 3:45 pm

    Does this work for other target languages? For the few I tried, I just got babble

  18. Ethan said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 4:13 pm

    @Rebecca:

    Sure. Here's a 2-character primer жо in Cyrillic after 6 initial repetitions:

    Jojo
    Reverently
    Rejoicing
    Reassuringly
    Reaping thee
    The repertoire of oil
    Rechargeable
    It's OK to live with it
    There are many people who can help you
    It's OK to burn the oil
    Greenshawk

  19. Rebecca said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 4:24 pm

    @Ethan, but that's still English as the target language. When I tried other targets (German, French and Finnish, in particular) I got the source just repeated over and over (in alphabet) with maybe a lead pronoun n the target language.

  20. David Morris said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 5:20 pm

    My typing of Korean is very slow, so that Google Translate has time to translate after I type each letter. While I was in Korea, I sent a text message in Korean to my wife's three best friends, and mentioned the Korean class I was attending (which is a whole nother story). One of them replied with a message, part of which I understood, but I wanted to check the other. The short sentence was 자랑스럽고 고마워요. The last four syllables I can easily read as ‘thank you’. But what did the first part mean?

    According to Google Translate:
    ㅈ = ㅈ
    자 = Character
    잘 = Well
    자라 = Grow
    자랑 = Boast
    자랑ㅅ = Proud oi
    자랑스 = Proud
    자랑스ㄹ = Proud d
    자랑스러 = Proud thruster
    자랑스럽 = Proud
    자랑스럽ㄱ = B proud
    자랑스럽고 = Proud

  21. Chad Nilep said,

    April 16, 2017 @ 9:20 pm

    I'm vaguely disappointed that にわ never seems to return "two chickens in the garden".

    On the bright side, six repetitions gives "Shift over the cross". That's rather nice.

  22. phspaelti said,

    April 17, 2017 @ 3:33 am

    @chad: I'm vaguely disappointed that にわ never seems to return "two chickens in the garden".
    The problem is surely that "ni-wa" meaning "in" will require the "wa" to be written with "は". And of course "niwa" meaning "2 (fowl)" is not idiomatic, unless it is in the right context.

  23. DWalker07 said,

    April 17, 2017 @ 11:12 am

    This one:

    I'm afraid to tell you on my baby, please take your shoulder shoes off

    Needs to be set to music!

  24. FlamingObsidian said,

    April 17, 2017 @ 11:14 am

    ねく repeated nine times gives a nice "round twisted double-filly meandering."

  25. Iterative Translation Poetry | TeaWithBuzz said,

    April 17, 2017 @ 11:45 am

    […] follow a couple of tumblr blogs, and today I noticed a post that linked to this blog: Language Log and a post about putting Japanese characters into Google Translate and then repeating them to see […]

  26. FlamingObsidian said,

    April 17, 2017 @ 12:01 pm

    Let's try жо.
    Continuing from Ethan's results and excluding repeats, we get:
    The oil in our country
    Greedily
    The oil
    Grease-oil
    Greedily will help you
    Salvage oil
    Salary of oil
    Salary of the oil
    It's a bit of a fire for us
    For example, the oil in a dishwasher
    In addition to this, we will take care of the oil
    It is recommended to use the following methods:
    This means that the oil can be burned.
    This means that the oil can be burned by hand.
    This means that the following information can be used:
    It is reccomended that the following reaction be used:
    It will be burned with oil.
    It will be burned with a glass of water.
    It will be burned with a glass of oil.
    It will be burned with a gasoline.
    It's not bad for us to help you.
    >>>> … … … … … … … … some people live …
    >>> … … … … … … … … any …
    It's not bad when it comes to handing the wall to someone.
    After all of that, it becomes a barren wasteland of >>>}}} and * * * * * * * * *.

  27. DishevelledEggs said,

    April 18, 2017 @ 7:56 pm

    することが is interesting the first bunch of times…

    To do
    To be able to do
    There is something that you can do
    There is something that you can do to make it
    There is something that you can do that is to be done
    There is something that you can do but there is something that you can do

    After that you just get variations on:
    That will be something to do but to be something to be done Doing things to do There is something to do But things to do There is something to do That will be something to do but to be something to be done Doing things to do

  28. Michael said,

    April 19, 2017 @ 11:45 am

    Here's the Dungan text for Beef Noodle Soup (ﻧِﯿَﻮْ ژِﻮْ ﻣِﯿًﺎ.), nine times:

    New York
    And the other.
    Water supply and water supply
    This is not necessarily an indication of water quality.
    This is an important part of the project.
    A new line of information is available on the website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
    The water quality of the aquifer is not the same as that of the aquifer.
    A new line of information is available on the website http://www.nokia.com/new/environment/default.aspx.
    The water quality of the aquifer is determined by the water quality of the aquifer, which is the water of the water.

  29. Nicki said,

    April 22, 2017 @ 3:02 am

    Bonus points for knowing what Chinese character I used:

    hair
    Plush
    Hairy
    Hairy hairy
    Feathery hairy
    Feathery hairy feathers
    Feathery feathers
    Hairy feathery hairy feathers
    Feathery feathery feathers
    Feathered and feathery
    Hairy and feathery hairy feathers
    It is covered with light hairiness and hairiness
    It is covered with light hairy hairy feathers
    Hairy and feathery feathery feathers
    A feathery feathery feathery feathery
    Hairy feathery feathery feathery feathery
    It is covered with light hairy feathers and fluffy hairy feathers.
    It is covered with light hairy feathers and hairy feathers.
    It is covered with light hairy feathers and fluffy hairy feathers and fluffy hairy feathers
    It is covered with light hairy feathers and fluffy hairy feathers and sweaty hairy feathers
    It is covered with light hairy feathers and fluffy hairy feathers and fluffy woolen feathers
    Hairy feathers plush feathery feathery feathery feathery feathery feathery
    Hairy feathers plush feathery feathery feathery and sweaty feathers plush and sweaty feathers

  30. Guy A said,

    April 24, 2017 @ 7:38 am

    Wow, this is addicting. Speaking of which, running the Hebrew word for drug (סם) gives the following:

    Drug
    I will
    I will not hesitate
    I'll be fascinated
    I'll be shocked
    I will not let them get mad
    I'll drink when they're rattled
    I will not hesitate to hesitate when they are finished
    I'll drink when they're done
    […]
    I'll be happy when they're published
    I'll try to stop them when they're published

    And so on…

  31. Mike Klitschko, The Cock Prohibited and The Icy Python | Never Pure and Rarely Simple said,

    April 29, 2017 @ 3:26 am

    […] letters, characters or syllables and b) are sometimes funny, baffling or seemingly meaningful. In the first such post, Mark Liberman reported that Japanese ュース (which Google Translate translates as juice) […]

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