[Ads-l] WOTY watch: "meat proxy"

Thu Aug 27 08:25:22 UTC 2026

Thanks to Jesse for reminding me of that funny phrase "meat person" in "The
Tin Woodman of Oz." I revisited the novel and
am fascinated by how the Tin Man (né Nick Chopper) explains how, because of
an enchanted axe, he lost his flesh one part at a time. (I think this is
all explained in the first book as well.) A mechanic friend replaced each
part until Nick was all tin, which proved to be superior in every way.
Furthermore:

[Begin excerpt]
"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor [of the Winkies, a.k.a. the Tin
Woodman], "no one can ever be killed. A man with a wooden leg or a tin leg
is still the same man; and, as I lost parts of my meat body by degrees, I
always remained the same person as in the beginning, even though in the end
I was all tin and no meat."
[End excerpt]

Which brings me to a line from a song by the musical comedy duo Flanders &
Swann, "The Reluctant Cannibal."

Father cannibal to abstinent son: "If the Juju had meant us not to eat
people, he wouldn't have made us of meat!"

Juju is the name of a male god in this very fictional scenario, while a
"juju man" is a serious term. I don't see an entry in the ADS archive, but
this 1983 paper is a start. I would love to see a more recent reference if
anyone has time to find it.

Bever, Bep Oliver. 1983. “The West African Juju Man and the Tools of His
Trade.” International Journal of Crude Drug Research 21 (3): 97–120.
doi:10.3109/13880208309070623

[Begin excerpt]
What is a "juju man"? To many Africans a "juju man" is someone who has been
initiated into tribal rituals allowing him to be instrumental in promoting
recovery from adversities - and, for most primitive people, disease is an
adversity imposed upon them by outside forces that they do not comprehend.
Many ""juju men" have acquired a knowledge of the medicinal use of local
plants, although, as will be shown later, the use they make of them often
differs basically in its conception from that of the doctor in Western
medicine. But few of them are only herbalists.
[End excerpt]

Britannica contributor Ibo Cbanga, defining "juju," begins (
https://www.britannica.com/topic/juju-magic):

[Begin excerpt]
juju, an object that has been deliberately infused with magical power or
the magical power itself; it also can refer to the belief system involving
the use of juju. Juju is practiced in West African countries such as
Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana, although its assumptions are shared by
most African people. It is neither good nor bad, but it may be used for
constructive purposes as well as for nefarious deeds. A monkey’s head is
probably the most common juju in West Africa. The word juju is believed to
be derived from the French joujou (“plaything”), though some sources claim
it is from the Hausa language, meaning “fetish” or “evil spirit.”
[End excerpt]

Live recording of "The Reluctant Cannibal" (YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjAHw2DEBgw

Text of The Tin Woodman of Oz (Project Gutenberg EBook):
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30852/30852-h/30852-h.htm

On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 10:12 AM Stephen Goranson <
00001dd3d6fc15d3-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> It also reminded me of meat puppet, but also of useful idiot, but maybe a
> non-useful idiot, non-helpful idiot, unless if for "you" "who" are
> "reading" this from an AI "point of view."
>
> Stephen
>
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 8:49 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Wonderful entry for "meat puppet", Jesse. Excellent citations, Jesse,
> > Bill, Ben, Emily, and Dave.
> >
> > The "meat proxy" behavior under examination was described with more
> > conventional phrases in 2025:
> >
> > "just a human proxy for AI"
> > "acting as a pass through AI proxy"
> >
> > [Begin x-twitter information]
> > https://x.com/WilsonCusack/status/1940762117046730782
> > wilson.base.eth @WilsonCusack
> > Sadly, I expect the advent of coding agents will make remote software
> > engineers more like factory workers with highly measured output. The
> > risk that someone is just a human proxy for AI is too high, and
> > companies will want precise ROI on their human vs AI workforce.
> > 9:18 AM, Jul 3, 2025
> > [End x-twitter information]
> >
> > [Begin x-twitter information]
> > https://x.com/andrewlamb1111/status/1982792293603033381
> > Andrew Lamb @andrewlamb1111
> > @ApacheDataFusio 's policy for AI assisted contribution:
> > AI is great, but not AI dumps: maintainers could finish the task
> > faster by using AI directly, and the submitters gain little knowledge
> > when acting as a pass through AI proxy.
> >
> >
> https://datafusion.apache.org/contributor-guide/index.html#ai-assisted-contributions
> > 8:51 AM, Oct 27, 2025
> > [End x-twitter information]
> >
> > In 2023 Mark Zuckerberg was labeled an "AI human proxy".
> > [Begin x-twitter information]
> > https://x.com/BostonSister/status/1725318064936292716
> > Christin @BostonSister
> > Alternate headline: "AI human proxy is now pretending to be different."
> > 8:00 PM, Nov 16, 2023
> > [End x-twitter information]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 7:37 AM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm surprised that no one has mentioned perhaps the most famous and
> > influential example of _meat_ in this context, which is William Gibson's
> > use of _meat puppet_ 'a human' in _Neuromancer_ (1984); Gibson later said
> > that he came up with this use after seeing a (written) reference to the
> > rock band Meat Puppets.
> > >
> > > Vastly earlier, there is this remarkable use of _meat person_ 'a human'
> > in L. Frank Baum's 1918 _Tin Woodman of Oz_ (this example was suggested
> to
> > me by Bill Mullins):
> > >
> > > 1918 L. F. Baum _Tin Woodman of Oz_ iii. 43
> > > ‘Were the Scarecrow and I alone,’ said the Tin Woodman, ‘we would
> travel
> > by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party, we must
> > halt at night to permit him to rest.’
> > >
> > > See https://sfdictionary.com/view/2269/meat-puppet for various
> examples
> > (including the Baum and Weizenbaum ones, in brackets).
> > >
> > > HDSF also has _meatspace_ (which Emily mentioned) and _meat world_,
> both
> > from the early 1990s.
> > >
> > > Jesse Sheidlower
> > >
> > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 01:26:45AM -0400, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
> > > > Interesting references, Emily and Ben. I received a request to
> explore
> > > > the following elaborate statement:
> > > >
> > > > Quote Origin: You’re a Ghost Driving a Meat Coated Skeleton Made from
> > Stardust
> > > > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/10/13/ghost-stardust/
> > > >
> > > > Here is a sampling of precursor phrases with dates from twitter:
> > > >
> > > > 2011 Apr 28: I just feel like I’m a ghost in a heavy meat suit
> > > > 2012 Jan 29: im just a brain driving a meat suit around life
> > > > 2012 Jul 30: skeleton wearing a meat-suit
> > > > 2012 Aug 05: people are still basically just skeletons coated in
> > filthy meat
> > > > 2012 Oct 29: Ain’t nothin’ but a ghost driving a meat suit
> > > > 2013 Jan 31: You’re a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from
> > > > stardust, what do you have to be scared of?
> > > >
> > > > Also, there is a famous short story by Terry Bisson titled "They're
> > > > Made Out of Meat" published in OMNI magazine in April 1991."They"
> > > > referred to humans.
> > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27re_Made_Out_of_Meat
> > > >
> > > > For people who hesitate to follow links: Computer scientist Joseph
> > > > Weizenbaum employed the phrase "the brain is merely a meat machine"
> in
> > > > a May 12, 1972, article in the journal Science. Weizenbaum attributed
> > > > the phrase to "one of my esteemed colleagues." Weizenbaum revealed in
> > > > 2008 that the colleague was Marvin Minsky.
> > > >
> > > > Garson
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 12:40 AM Ben Zimmer
> > > > <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I also thought of "meatspace" as well as a couple of other "meat"
> > terms
> > > > > that have come up here:
> > > > >
> > > > > "meatbag" (robot's epithet for a human on "Futurama")
> > > > >
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2009-August/092085.html
> > > > > "meatmobile" (retronym for a human-driven car)
> > > > >
> >
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-August/143702.html
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 12:35 AM Emily Gordon <
> > > > > 0000205244c4ee9d-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > And a “meat suit” is a human body in early internet (perhaps
> > earlier?)
> > > > > > parlance; “meatspace” is messy real life in a meatsuit in 3D, as
> > opposed to
> > > > > > cyberspace.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 9:24 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > > > > > 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > This use of "meat" was probably influenced by a phrase
> > attributed to
> > > > > > > AI pioneer Marvin Minsky:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Quote Origin: The Brain Is Merely a Meat Machine
> > > > > > > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/05/06/machines/
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Garson
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 25, 2026 at 11:26 PM Ben Zimmer
> > > > > > > <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Via "sf-isms: the lexicon of San Francisco tech slang":
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > ---
> > > > > > > > https://sfisms.org/meat-proxy
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Meat proxy
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > A person who forwards AI-generated text, code, or other
> output
> > without
> > > > > > > > reading, understanding, or validating it. The person acts
> only
> > as a
> > > > > > relay
> > > > > > > > between the AI system and the intended recipient.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > "Please summarize what Claude found instead of making me
> > review a wall
> > > > > > of
> > > > > > > > text from a meat proxy."
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Origin
> > > > > > > > The earliest matching use located was an anonymous March 31,
> > 2026 blog
> > > > > > > post
> > > > > > > > titled "meat-based llm proxies." It described people who feed
> > messages
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > > > an LLM and copy its responses back to others, saying that the
> > recipient
> > > > > > > was
> > > > > > > > effectively communicating with the model "via a meat proxy."
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Niklas Gruhn popularized the shorter label with his August 3,
> > 2026
> > > > > > essay
> > > > > > > > "Don't be a meat proxy," focused on unread Claude output in
> > Slack, pull
> > > > > > > > requests, and group chats. Simon Willison amplified it the
> > same day,
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > > > Gruhn's post subsequently reached the Hacker News front page
> > with more
> > > > > > > than
> > > > > > > > 1,800 points and 700 comments. The phrase then spread widely
> > on X,
> > > > > > > > including a viral post by Josh tried coding that received
> > roughly 4,000
> > > > > > > > likes and 490,000 views.
> > > > > > > > ---
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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