Considerate Language
Last edited on 29 Sep 2023
Don’t use terms that may carry unconscious bias, sensitive subjects, or associations with military actions, politics, or historical events and eras. Use gender-neutral alternatives for common terms.
| Do use these words | Do not use these words |
|---|---|
| manufactured | manmade |
| personnel, staff | manpower |
| work-hours | man-hours |
| worker | workman/workwoman |
| humanity, human kind | mankind |
| allowlist/denylist | whitelist/blacklist |
| carried over | grandfathered in |
| main, primary | master |
| secondary, replica | slave |
| check | sanity check |
| were ignored, miss the mark | fall on deaf ears |
| weakness, something we overlooked | blind spot |
| extremely, very, unreasonable | crazy, insane |
| freeze, become unresponsive | hang |
With thanks to the Microsoft Style Guide on bias-free communication.