The expression "sorry not sorry" is a de jure non-apology apology. The correct punctuation for the statement is unclear. It could be
• "Sorry: not sorry." (i.e., "[I'm] sorry [that I'm] not sorry.").
• "Sorry—not sorry." (i.e., "[I'm] sorry. [Actually, I'm] not sorry.")
• "Sorry. Not sorry." (i.e., "[I'm] sorry [you're upset, but I'm also] not sorry [that I did it].")
But regardless of the denoted meaning, we all get the connoted meaning: "I don't feel bad about it, but don't try to hold me accountable for it, either."
This is not the only contradiction in terms in the English language. Here are more examples:
• "awfully good"
• "bittersweet"
• "alone together"
• "clearly misunderstood"
• "conspicuous absence"
• "crash landing"
• "deafening silence"
• "deceptively honest"
• "definite maybe"
• "devout atheist"
• "dull roar"
• "exact estimate"
• "freezer burn"
• "friendly takeover"
• "genuine imitation"
• "good grief"
• "growing smaller"
• "guest host"
• "impossible solution"
• "larger half"
• "lead balloon"
• "loyal opposition"
• "negative growth"
• "old news"
• "only choice"
• "open secret"
• "original copy"
• "overly modest"
• "random order"
• "sad smile"
• "same difference"
• "seriously funny"
• "small crowd"
• "soft rock"
• "static flow"
• "theoretical experience"
• "student teacher"
• "sweet sorrow"
• "unbiased opinion"
We human beings handle these contradictions without too much trouble. In fact, poets often take delight in coining them.
But what about an AI?
I decided to see what Stable Diffusion would do when given a word as both the prompt (what to draw) and the negative prompt (what not to draw). I used the 100 most common nouns, according to the Corpus of Contemporary American English (https://www.english-corpora.org//coca/).
Here are the results:
1. Time Not Time
2. Year Not Year
3. People Not People
4. Way Not Way
5. Day Not Day
6. Man Not Man
7. Thing Not Thing
8. Woman Not Woman
9. Life Not Life
10. Child Not Child
11. World Not World
12. School Not School
13. State Not State
14. Family Not Family
15. Student Not Student
16. Group Not Group
17. Country Not Country
18. Problem Not Problem
19. Hand Not Hand
20. Part Not Part
21. Place Not Place
22. Case Not Case
23. Week Not Week
24. Company Not Company
25. System Not System
26. Program Not Program
27. Question Not Question
28. Work Not Work
29. Government Not Government
30. Number Not Number
31. Night Not Night
32. Point Not Point
33. Home Not Home
34. Water Not Water
35. Room Not Room
36. Mother Not Mother
37. Area Not Area
38. Money Not Money
39. Story Not Story
40. Fact Not Fact
41. Month Not Month
42. Lot Not Lot
43. Right Not Right
44. Study Not Study
45. Book Not Book
46. Eye Not Eye
47. Job Not Job
48. Word Not Word
49. Business Not Business
50. Issue Not Issue
51. Side Not Side
52. Kind Not Kind
53. Head Not Head
54. House Not House
55. Service Not Service
56. Friend Not Friend
57. Father Not Father
58. Power Not Power
59. Hour Not Hour
60. Game Not Game
61. Line Not Line
62. End Not End
63. Member Not Member
64. Law Not Law
65. Car Not Car
66. City Not City
67. Community Not Community
68. Name Not Name
69. President Not President
70. Team Not Team
71. Minute Not Minute
72. Idea Not Idea
73. Kid Not Kid
74. Body Not Body
75. Information Not Information
76. Back Not Back
77. Parent Not Parent
78. Face Not Face
79. Others Not Others
80. Level Not Level
81. Office Not Office
82. Door Not Door
83. Health Not Health
84. Person Not Person
85. Art Not Art
86. War Not War
87. History Not History
88. Party Not Party
89. Result Not Result
90. Change Not Change
91. Morning Not Morning
92. Reason Not Reason
93. Research Not Research
94. Girl Not Girl
95. Guy Not Guy
96. Moment Not Moment
97. Air Not Air
98. Teacher Not Teacher
99. Force Not Force
100. Education Not Education
Now. A few observations about the list:
• Despite how much time and money we spend on them, the words "food", "sleep", and "entertainment" did not make the top 100!
• Overall the list is quite boring. Perhaps the Corpus of Contemporary American English is based on business memos instead of social media.
• In general, the prompt won out over the negative prompt.
And a few observations about the images (this is me inferring, but not necessarily endorsing, what the AI meant by the images it produced):
6. Men with comb-overs aren't real men.
8. Brunettes aren't real women.
11. A globe is not a world—especially if it's not the spinning kind.
12. An empty school is not a school.
14. Real families don't do polyandry.
15. Coeds aren't real students.
17. If it's been marred by human presence, it's no longer the countryside.
24. You're not going to be successful, just because you have fancy letterhead.
27. "If you have to ask, you’ll never know. If you know, you need only ask."
30. "B" is not a number, but it looks a lot like a "3".
31. The city never sleeps.
33. Your home away from home.
34. Humans are 55–60% water, but we sure don't look like it.
35. No matter how big the room, there's never enough room.
36. Michelle Williams is not a real mother.
38. Funny money.
39. If you don't knock, you'll never find out.
43. In other words, go left.
45. Pop-up picture books are not real books.
48. "QOR" looks like a word, but it's not a real word.
49. Just because you're busy, doesn't mean you're profitable.
50. Just tell me what you don't like about me; I promise I won't lose my temper.
53. An android head is just a representation, not a true head.
54. If it's on wheels, it's not a real house.
57. Grandfather.
58. We can't depend on solar to end our dependence on fossil fuels.
60. "The Greatest Game" was no game.
62. Marriage is not the end of your freedom; it's the beginning of your lives together.
67. High-density housing is not a real community.
69. The president of India is not the President of the United States.
70. There is no "I" in "teamwork", but "teamwork" said backwards is "crow meat".
72. A lightbulb is not an idea.
76. If you get lost in the outback, you might not come back.
79. Solipsism is true.
80. A circle has infinite tangents.
82. It looks like a door, but it's boarded up.
83. What's good for your physical health isn't always good for your mental health.
84. Redheads are not real people.
85. That's not art, that's crap.
86. Duel wielding only happens in video games.
88. Nobody actually likes wedding dinner parties.
92. That just defies all reason.
95. If you want to be a real boy, first you have to stop telling lies.
97. Most of our air comes from marine algae, not the Amazon.
These illustrations were drawn using Stable Diffusion 2.1.
