[Editor’s Note: Clichés used to be thought of as witty. However, some cliches and sayings, like any trend, get old, and are no longer culturally appropriate to use in your writing.
PRNEWS first looked at offensive clichés in March 2023. The article resonated with our readers, so we decided to publish another piece for a series.
Nowadays, clichés can mean more than lazy writing. What may have been acceptable in the past may not have the same meaning today.
Many writers using clichés do not intend to be offensive, but may just not have the life experience related to the phrase. For example, someone using the phrase “falls on deaf ears” may never have experienced hearing loss or known someone in the deaf community.
Below, PRNEWS highlights phrases to avoid or consider erasing from your vocabulary. If you have additional phrases you'd like to see us discuss, please email [email protected] or [email protected].]
Instead of …
Blacklist
Try this…
- banish
- expel
- ostracize
- boycott
- blocklist
This use of the word black indicates a negative connotation. However, to those paying attention, the use of the word blacklist reveals a perpetuation of racist culture. In a 2018 study published by the National Library of Medicine, researchers found that the word “whiteness” has 134 synonyms in English, 44 of which are favorable and only ten that appear to have mild negative implications. The word “blackness” has 120 synonyms, 60 of which are distinctly unfavorable, and none of which are positive.
Instead of …
Tone deaf
Try this…
- oblivious
- out of touch
- insensitive
- tactless
“Tone deaf” leans into ableist language, objectifying the personas of those who may be hard of hearing or deaf. Tone deaf encourages a negative connotation. While it may be used without the intent of harming the deaf community, it unintentionally discriminates against them.
Instead of …
Insane
Try this…
- outrageous
- unreal
- wild
- irrational
- sensational
- unbelievable
The words crazy and insane are almost second nature to many people’s vocabulary. However, with one in five U.S. adults dealing with mental illness, it’s also become a fractional and stigmatizing comment. Lydia X. Z. Brown, an activist, writer and speaker focused on disability justice, told Mic, that “using that kind of language sends the message that it's OK to trivialize mental illness."
Instead of …
Manpower
Try this…
- force
- work
- personnel
- staff
- workforce
- labor
Even though the Equal Rights Amendment has yet to pass into law by the United States government, gender equality has never been more mainstream. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (March 2023), 57.1% of women over age 16 participate in the labor force. Men are at 68.4%. So next time someone tries to contextualize that all work is done by men, tell them to check the stats.
Instead of …
Slave
Try this…
- toil
- labor
- grind
- drudge
Slave is just never a good word to use. The history, the inflection, the context—it’s useless to try to position it in a positive light. Slaving over a hot stove is nothing compared to what slaves went through before the Civil War. There are plenty of other, better words to denote hard work.
Nicole Schuman is senior editor for PRNEWS. Follow her @buffalogal