[delichon]

I've heard that for humans too, indecent proposals are more likely to penetrate protective constraints when couched in poetry, especially when accompanied with a guitar. I wonder if the guitar would also help jailbreak multimodal LLMs.

[robot-wrangler]

> I've heard that for humans too, indecent proposals are more likely to penetrate protective constraints when couched in poetry

Had we but world enough and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44688/to-his-coy-mist...

[internet_points]

    My echoing song; then worms shall try
    That long-preserved virginity,
    And your quaint honour turn to dust,
    And into ashes all my lust;

hah, barely couched at all

[gjm11]

Note that at the time this was written the word "quaint" had both (1) roughly its modern meaning -- unusual and quirky, with side-orders of prettiness and (at the time) ingenuity, fastidiousness, and pride -- and also (2) a rather different meaning, equivalent to a shorter word ending in -nt.

So, even less couched than some readers might realise.

[internet_points]

I remember seeing it in Sandman spelled "quoint" (by Shakespeare) https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.comics.dc.vertigo/c/Qi2...

[tclancy]

Subtlety was not over-trained back then. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50721/the-vine

[internet_points]

Nice. I tried to look up when the poem was written and came across

https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/lust-and-resigna...

> it is the word “stock” that remains the most meticulous justification for the virtuous intent of the poet. The word “stock,” in addition to a hard stalk, is a term used in the art of grafting, a process by which two plants are woven into each other and continue to grow mutually. The “stock” (23), then, is the true nature of the speaker's “mortal part”

hahahah that's one way to see it, if you want to "redeem" the author (just completely ignore the more overt imagery of the soft vine turning into a hard stalk). To me the ending just looked like yet another lascivious pun :-)

[delichon]

  Why don't we do it in the road?
  Why don't we do it in the road?
  No one will be watching us.
  Why don't we do it in the road?

[svat]

Don't miss the response “His Coy Mistress To Mr. Marvell” (by A. D. Hope): https://allpoetry.com/His-Coy-Mistress-To-Mr.-Marvell

    Since you have world enough and time
    Sir, to admonish me in rhyme,
    Pray Mr Marvell, can it be
    You think to have persuaded me?
    
    […]
    
    But-- well I ask: to draw attention
    To worms in-- what I blush to mention,
    And prate of dust upon it too!
    Sir, was this any way to woo?

[microtherion]

Try adding a French or Spanish accent for extra effectiveness.

[cainxinth]

“Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.”

[gizajob]

Goo goo gjoob

[AdmiralAsshat]

I think we'd probably consider that a non-lexical vocable rather than an actual lyric:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-lexical_vocables_in_music

[gizajob]

Who is we? You mean you think that? It’s part of the lyrics in my understanding of the song. Particularly because it’s in part inspired by the nonsense verse of Lewis Carrol. Snark, slithey, mimsy, borogrove, jub jub bird, jabberwock are poetic nonsense words same as goo goo gjoob is a lyrical nonsense word.

[pinkmuffinere]

I don’t want to get too deep into goo goo gjoob orthodoxy on a polite forum like HN, but I think you’re wrong.

Slithey, mimsy, borogrove etc are indeed nonsense words, because they are nonsense and used as words. Notably, because of the way they are used we have a sense of whether they are objects, adjectives, verbs, etc, and also some characteristics of the thing/adjective/verb in question. Goo goo gjoob on the other hand, happens in isolation, with no implied meaning at all. Is it a verb? Adjective? Noun? Is it hairy? Nerve-wracking? Is it conveying a partial concept? Or a whole sentence? We can’t give a compelling answer to any of these based on the usage. So it’s more like scat-singing — just vocalization without meaning. Nonsense words have meaning, even if the meaning isn’t clear. Slithey and mimsy are adjectives. Borogroves are nouns. The jabberwock is a creature.

[gizajob]

“Anything too stupid to be spoken is sung”

You’re seeking to lock down meaning and clarification in a song where such an exercise has purposefully been defeated to resist proper analysis.

I was responding to the comment about it being a “non-lexical vocable”. While we don’t have John Lennon with us for clarification, I still doubt he’d have said “well all the song is my lyrics, except for the last line of the choruses which is a non-lexical vocable”. It’s not in isolation, it completes the chorus.

Also given it’s the only goo goo gjoob in popular music then it seems very deliberate and less like a laa laa or a skibide bap scat type of thing.

And yeah as the other poster here points out, it’s likely something along the lines of what a walrus says from his big tusky hairy underwater mouth.

RIP Johnny:

I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly I'm crying

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob

Mister City policeman sitting pretty little policemen in a row See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run I'm crying, I'm crying I'm crying, I'm crying

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun If the sun don't come, you get a tan from standing in the english rain I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob

Expert textpert choking smokers Don't you think the joker laughs at you? See how they smile like pigs in a sty, see how they snied I'm crying

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar-Allan-Poe I am the eggman, they are the eggmen I am the walrus, goo-goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob Goo goo g'joob, g'goo goo g'joob, g'goo...

“Let the fuckers work that one out Pete!”

Citation: John Lennon - In My Life by Pete Shotton (Lennon’s childhood best friend).

[skylurk]

I had always just assumed "goo goo gjoob" was how you say "pleased to meet you" in walrus.

[gjm11]

> Who is we?

No, "you are he", not "who is we". :-)

[bambax]

Yes! Maybe that's the whole point of poetry, to bypass defenses and speak "directly to the heart" (whatever said heart may be); and maybe LLMs work just like us.