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03rd Dec 2018

Bringing home the bacon and similar phrases to be ‘banned’ as they’re offensive to vegans

'This increased awareness will undoubtedly be reflected in our language and literature...'

Denise Curtin

“The increased awareness of vegan issues will filter through our consciousness to produce new modes of expression.”

Dr Shareena Hamzah of Swansea University is behind a movement that hopes to see phrases such as “bringing home the bacon” banned and replaced by less meat-themed sayings in order to stop offending vegans and bring more awareness to animal cruelty.

Seeing expressions like “take the bull by the horns” replaced by “take the flower by the thorns”, Dr Hamzah believes that by making simple changes to our slang and everyday language will, in turn, make us more conscious of the words we’re actually using.

“If veganism forces us to confront the realities of food’s origins, then this increased awareness will undoubtedly be reflected in our language and literature,” she told The Conversation academic website.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are also backing this movement which hopes to see change and replacement for old phrases with ones which are more conscious towards vegans and animal cruelty.

Given examples include replacing “flog a dead horse” with “feed a fed horse” and “all your eggs in one basket” to “all your berries in one bowl”.

Lastly, Dr Hamzah notes that the less we use the meat-heavy phrases… the hopes they become more alien to people. “The image of ‘killing two birds with one stone’ is, if anything, made more powerful by the animal-friendly alternative of ‘feeding two birds with one scone’,” she added.

You can read the full interview here.