Open parenthesis immediately returns error

Whenever I type a parenthesis immediately following a word (as if I'm
entering a function) R displays the following error

Error in try(gsub("\\s+", " ", paste(capture.output(print(args(try))),  :
  unused argument(s) (silent = TRUE)

try(

The above is pasted from my R console. The error appears above the command
because it appears immediately upon typing the parenthesis.  It does not
wait until I try to execute the command.  This happens for every function.
I can finish typing the function and execute it.  But these error messages
make it difficult to debug my code.  In particular, if I have options(error
= recover) set, the above crashes R.

I can avoid the error by typing the parentheses first and then moving the
cursor back to type in the word. This error displays on the console whether
I'm typing in the console or in an open document window.

I'm using the mac GUI for R.  The error only occurs on my Macbook (OS X
10.5.7), which I bought a few months ago.  It has occurred  every time I use
R on this computer.  It has happened with R 2.8 and now R 2.91.

Any idea what may be going on?

Presumably this has something to do with command completion or argument hints. ?From the "silent = TRUE" error, and your example, I would guess you have a function named try(), and the GUI is finding yours instead of the one in the base package.

The GUI shouldn't do that, it should look in the right place, but as a workaround, you could remove your function named "try", and call it something else.