[1] Just a note for others similarly fascinated by these sorts of linguistic items, there's an excellent book that explores this concept space: Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
I've been a bit shocked how poor ChatGPT's usage is - it writes more like a very articulate 15 year old than like an adult - and how nobody else seems to notice. I can't help but think part of the reason nobody is noticing is that most of the attention is coming from engineers (for whom language is not a top skill).
I suspect it's a deliberate choice, much as The Sun newspaper aims at an 8 year old reading level, while newspapers like The Times or Guardian aim at 14 year old. Try asking ChatGPT to shift to a more advanced level.
Also, the whole "say what you're going to say, say it, say what you said" technique is very common because it works. Even "smart" people don't remember things quite as well as they think they do.
No, we're just mesmerized that a freaking machine, a bunch of PCBs and wires, can fairly convincingly impersonate a 15 year old, including making stuff up with great confidence.
Wooden language is language that uses vague, ambiguous, abstract or pompous words in order to divert attention from the salient issues.
I may have been overthinking things— I do that (and I don’t count it as an inherently positive trait) but the general topic is still interesting and still highly recommend the book I referenced.