Blow-Softening Phrases
In February, I was watching a rerun of a television show while enjoying a sandwich. Because it is the Winter Olympics season, there were many commercials with athletes hawking products. Coca-Cola is the official drink, Visa is the official credit card, and Omega is the official watch… The list goes on. I successfully ignored the useless chatter until something caught my eye.
An ice skater was performing a routine, then discussed the benefits of an Eli Lilly diabetes drug. I found it odd that a woman who clearly was in excellent health was talking about a medical condition she did not have, yet that was not what caught my attention.
As they splashed her gold medal-winning smile across the screen, under her name was “awareness advocate.” Umm, what? Apparently, the company says that, although this person does not have diabetes, she wants to inform us about the benefits of their particular medicine. Her title was meant to request viewers to “give this person a pass” because the ailment did not afflict her.
That’s fine, but we have a name for this role: spokesperson. In fact, this word has the perfect definition: “a person who speaks for another or for a group.” This word is supposed to be a legal get-out-of-jail-free card so that people really know the person is not a true expert in the product they are giving us information about. So… why not use that word?
People can be fickle about harsh terms. “Spokesperson” sounds mean, while “awareness advocate” sounds friendly. “This ice skater is really looking out for my welfare. I had better go out and buy some Eli Lilly products. Yum.”
Yeah, I was not buying it. Why? I am an adult and have accepted the term “spokesperson” into my life. We accepted Rob Lowe talking about the Atkins diet, Matthew McConaughey driving a Lincoln car, William Shatner booking tickets with Priceline, and Samuel L. Jackson paying with a Capital One card. These fine spokespersons did not raise an eyebrow because they were proud to hawk products.
Still, I am not in charge of the world, and the winds have turned. Blow-softening phrases are the new norm, and here is a list I compiled:
Community stakeholder = leader
Belongings facilitator = investor
Experience curator = teacher
Information officer = librarian
Purpose driver = coach
Access coordinator = security guard
Value engineer = estimator
Narrative reframe = change
Opportunity seeker = unemployed
Workforce optimization = fired
Quiet hiring = more work
Quiet quitting = work less
Managed decline = failure
Operational pause = quitting
Success manager = winner
Stability maintenance = war
Process refinement = teardown
Deferred maintenance = neglect
Narrative harmonization = rewrite
Content integrity review = deletion
Shelter in place = hide
Gentle clarification = directive
Gentle boundary = no
Soft warning = threat
Limited clarity = we don’t know
Gradual progression = getting worse
Pre-owned vehicle = used car
Since I like my articles to tie in writing, how do my characters use these newly acceptable phrases? I avoid them like the plague. Thinking up a topic that holds a reader’s attention is a daunting enough task. Then, locating all the grammar, spelling, plot, and logic flaws is more challenging than climbing Mount Everest. When combined with the infinite amount of material available, it is a wonder that anyone has ever read one of my books or articles.
Requiring my readers to have a blow-softening phrase decoder is a bridge too far. How would they ever know that an “experience curator” is the new term for a teacher? “Sally told her mother that her experience curator assigned a tough math problem.” My keyboard nearly broke when I typed that.
Well, we could argue that these phrases are helping. People buy more Eli Lilly diabetes drugs from awareness advocates than from spokespersons. That may be true, but one could also argue that these phrases also anger people, and I am the proof.
Yet, I do understand that advertising, politics, and pleasing people are tough spaces to work in. It requires dedicated experts who must be on the lookout for topics that might offend. Thus, issuing a “soft warning” is a much better approach than issuing a threatening warning. I guess that makes sense.
I think the above phrases have gone too far. Meaning that sometimes we need a threat. “Don’t get near that rattlesnake.” Using a phrase like “managed decline” does not correct coworker issues.
And from a reading perspective, imagine a blood-and-guts WWII battle scene with the fighting access coordinators! Yeah… That does not work at all.
I probably need to ignore my apprehensions. Blow-softening phrases are here to stay, and I must add them to my daily vocabulary. Otherwise, I will have to take a narrative reframe in my life.
You’re the best -Bill
March 18, 2026
An ice skater was performing a routine, then discussed the benefits of an Eli Lilly diabetes drug. I found it odd that a woman who clearly was in excellent health was talking about a medical condition she did not have, yet that was not what caught my attention.
As they splashed her gold medal-winning smile across the screen, under her name was “awareness advocate.” Umm, what? Apparently, the company says that, although this person does not have diabetes, she wants to inform us about the benefits of their particular medicine. Her title was meant to request viewers to “give this person a pass” because the ailment did not afflict her.
That’s fine, but we have a name for this role: spokesperson. In fact, this word has the perfect definition: “a person who speaks for another or for a group.” This word is supposed to be a legal get-out-of-jail-free card so that people really know the person is not a true expert in the product they are giving us information about. So… why not use that word?
People can be fickle about harsh terms. “Spokesperson” sounds mean, while “awareness advocate” sounds friendly. “This ice skater is really looking out for my welfare. I had better go out and buy some Eli Lilly products. Yum.”
Yeah, I was not buying it. Why? I am an adult and have accepted the term “spokesperson” into my life. We accepted Rob Lowe talking about the Atkins diet, Matthew McConaughey driving a Lincoln car, William Shatner booking tickets with Priceline, and Samuel L. Jackson paying with a Capital One card. These fine spokespersons did not raise an eyebrow because they were proud to hawk products.
Still, I am not in charge of the world, and the winds have turned. Blow-softening phrases are the new norm, and here is a list I compiled:
Community stakeholder = leader
Belongings facilitator = investor
Experience curator = teacher
Information officer = librarian
Purpose driver = coach
Access coordinator = security guard
Value engineer = estimator
Narrative reframe = change
Opportunity seeker = unemployed
Workforce optimization = fired
Quiet hiring = more work
Quiet quitting = work less
Managed decline = failure
Operational pause = quitting
Success manager = winner
Stability maintenance = war
Process refinement = teardown
Deferred maintenance = neglect
Narrative harmonization = rewrite
Content integrity review = deletion
Shelter in place = hide
Gentle clarification = directive
Gentle boundary = no
Soft warning = threat
Limited clarity = we don’t know
Gradual progression = getting worse
Pre-owned vehicle = used car
Since I like my articles to tie in writing, how do my characters use these newly acceptable phrases? I avoid them like the plague. Thinking up a topic that holds a reader’s attention is a daunting enough task. Then, locating all the grammar, spelling, plot, and logic flaws is more challenging than climbing Mount Everest. When combined with the infinite amount of material available, it is a wonder that anyone has ever read one of my books or articles.
Requiring my readers to have a blow-softening phrase decoder is a bridge too far. How would they ever know that an “experience curator” is the new term for a teacher? “Sally told her mother that her experience curator assigned a tough math problem.” My keyboard nearly broke when I typed that.
Well, we could argue that these phrases are helping. People buy more Eli Lilly diabetes drugs from awareness advocates than from spokespersons. That may be true, but one could also argue that these phrases also anger people, and I am the proof.
Yet, I do understand that advertising, politics, and pleasing people are tough spaces to work in. It requires dedicated experts who must be on the lookout for topics that might offend. Thus, issuing a “soft warning” is a much better approach than issuing a threatening warning. I guess that makes sense.
I think the above phrases have gone too far. Meaning that sometimes we need a threat. “Don’t get near that rattlesnake.” Using a phrase like “managed decline” does not correct coworker issues.
And from a reading perspective, imagine a blood-and-guts WWII battle scene with the fighting access coordinators! Yeah… That does not work at all.
I probably need to ignore my apprehensions. Blow-softening phrases are here to stay, and I must add them to my daily vocabulary. Otherwise, I will have to take a narrative reframe in my life.
You’re the best -Bill
March 18, 2026
