A close friend of mine is having his 60th birthday celebrations in Andalusia in a few weeks. The theme and the dress code are Flamenco, I was informed. I decided to follow the instructions to the t. I mean, it wouldn’t do to embarrass my college buddy in front of his more illustrious friends, would it?
Clearly, I had to take it seriously and make a suit that would fit the bill. But, what exactly is the Flamenco theme? Since I had no idea, I asked ChatGPT. Unfortunately, I made a tiny spelling error, Flamingo instead of Flamenco. In fact, I did notice the difference in the spelling, but thought it was just the crazy Spanish way of writing the same thing. I had always felt that the dance and the bird had something in common, ever since I saw it for the first (and only) time in Barcelona some thirty years ago.
Anyways, ChatGPT gave me the appropriate descriptions, color suggestions and even created a mockup for me. It is warm stone in tropical wool-linen blend, in case you are interested.
Honestly, I loved it. The color scheme appealed to my sense of harmony and elegance and whatnot. Some uncharitable friends of mine say that this sense of mine is garish and influenced by the garish region I am from. The gall! Anyways, I took it all to Oxford Tailors – the best in town (according to TripAdvisor). I mean, with a name like Oxford, how could they be anything but, right? The master tailor, Alex, was equally enthusiastic about the project. He even had lining that had the birds printed on it, and suggested the right shade of pastel pink for the shirt and everything. I was mighty pleased.
When I came back to my office, I remembered – I wanted to check with ChatGPT regarding the pre-supposed congruence of the two terms: Flamingo and Flamenco. Although I was almost certain, I asked: “BTW, flamenco theme is the same as flamingo to theme, isn’t it?” The response was uncharacteristically severe, I felt:
Not quite — flamingo and flamenco are very different themes, even though the words sound similar.
- Flamingo → the bird, with its pink color. A flamingo-themed party usually means pink-based outfits or tropical vibes.
- Flamenco → the traditional Spanish art form from Andalusia (and Seville is its heartland), involving passionate dance, guitar music, polka-dot dresses, fans, shawls, and bold colors like red, black, and white.
If your friend’s invite actually said flamenco-themed, the style would be Spanish romantic — think dramatic contrasts, lace, ruffles, and possibly red accents.
Okay, sure, I made a mistake, fine. No need to rub my nose in it, is there?
Anyways, I made a frantic phone call to Alex of Oxford and asked him to hold his horses. I will have to go back to them tomorrow and select a new color scheme, and stop the silly birds from getting in my linings and too close to my person. Then again, I needed another mockup. Here’s what I have right now.
No longer sure of my research in the age of LLMs (what with their “attention” that remembers every damn thing I ever said), and my sublime sense of color (I mean, I like this color scheme as well, which probably means that this one is wrong as well, doesn’t it?), I find myself, what’s the word, dithering. But there are times when a man has to stand up for himself and take a stance. So like a torero, I am going to forge ahead. With the awareness, señor, that the bull doesn’t always lose, as in that joke about meatballs.