Phrases like 'bring home the bacon' could be banned to 'avoid offending vegans'

"Bringing home the bacon" may soon be banned in order to stop offending vegans, an academic has claimed.

Other expressions including "killing two birds with one stone" and "flog a dead horse" could also apparently go out of fashion.

This is to avoid offending animal lovers, according to Shareena Hamzah of Swansea University.

Animal rights charity Peta is also on board and wants people to replace sayings such as "take the bull by the horns" with "take the flower by the thorns".

Dr Hamzah believes that the influence of veganism will bring awareness of animal cruelty and encourage people towards using less meat-themed phrases.

She told The Conversation academic website: "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.

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

However Dr Hamzah adds it was unlikely such sayings would be removed completely, and using them less could even increase their impact.

She added: "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’."

Peta also hopes the phrase ‘to flog a dead horse’ could be replaced with ‘to feed a fed horse’.

Another alternative saying for "more than one way to skin a cat" could be "more than one way to peel a potato", it said.