Nobody spots generated prose from one mistake; they spot an accumulation of statistical habits. Each is defensible alone; together they are a watermark. copy-voice says how UI copy should sound. This node is what to strip from any text a person will read — microcopy, marketing pages, docs, release notes, README — in order: words, sentences, punctuation, claims. Then put a voice back, because clean-but-voiceless is its own tell.

Words

Slop	Write instead
delve into	look at
crucial, pivotal	important, or name the consequence
leverage, utilize	use
facilitate	help
enhance	improve, or the specific change
showcase, underscore	show
landscape, tapestry	field, mix, or delete the sentence
additionally	also
in the event that	if
serves as, boasts, offers	is, has

Delete filler on sight ("in order to", "it is important to note that"). Cut adverbs or fix the verb they prop up ("runs quickly" → the number). Promotional adjectives (seamless, robust, stunning, vibrant) get neutral replacements — describe the thing and let the reader supply the adjective. Metaphor jargon (substrate, wedge, north star, flywheel, paradigm) costs credibility when the plain word exists.

Sentences

"Not just X, but Y" — state Y. If Y can't stand without the runway, Y is the problem.
Break the rule of three. Count the real items; write two or five.
Kill false ranges ("from startups to enterprises") — list the things or name the one that matters.
Repeat the word. Cycling synonyms for one thing is a school-essay habit; the right word repeated is how a reader tracks the subject.
One idea per sentence; name the actor. Passive voice is grammatically safe and hides who does what.
Hedge once at most. "Could potentially possibly" is a model avoiding commitment.

Punctuation and formatting

No em dashes (a period or a comma, not a different interrupter that keeps the rhythm). Colons introduce lists, not connect clauses. Bold is for scanning, not emphasis inflation — and the bold-label-plus-colon list that restates its own line is the strongest formatting tell there is. Sentence case headings. No decorative emoji. Straight quotes in source prose; curly quotes belong in rendered UI copy (line-behavior).

Claims

Puffery ("a testament to", "sets the stage for") gets replaced by what happened. Name the source or cut the claim. Delete the trailing "-ing" clause that bolts a conclusion onto a fact ("…, ensuring reliability"). No generic conclusions ("exciting times ahead"). No chatbot residue ("I hope this helps!"). And the two tests for any product sentence: can it be restated as a concrete instruction, fact, or number? and could it appear unchanged in another product's docs? Fail either, cut it.

Putting a voice back

Have a reaction (real reactions are mixed). Vary the rhythm. Use "I" when it fits. Be specific over evocative — the specific image can't be produced by averaging. Let a little mess in: a tangent, an admission of uncertainty.

When to apply

Any generated text a person will read; any marketing headline (the competitor paste test); every unslop-pass; error messages and empty states alongside copy-voice.

Gotcha

The pass is not "shorter". A sentence stripped to nothing but nouns reads as generated too. The target is a sentence a specific person would say about this specific product.

Sources

Emil Kowalski's design-engineering practice on writing, distilled by HKTITAN.
Related: copy-voice, content-authenticity, unslop-pass.