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Q&A What would you call non human "people"?

You could try going in the negative. "You're not a god." Or, "You're not infallible." Or, "Nobody is perfect." You could try going sympathetic. "We all make mistakes. Welcome to the club." Or, ...

posted 6y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:12Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31412
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:19:59Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31412
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:19:59Z (over 4 years ago)
You could try going in the negative. "You're not a god."

Or, "You're not infallible."

Or, "Nobody is perfect."

You could try going sympathetic. "We all make mistakes. Welcome to the club."

Or, "How about that, you are normal, after all."

Or, "You've only got six limbs, you can't be expected to catch every thing."

Remember the **_point_** of saying "you are only human," and translate that. The point is that humans are fallible, make mistakes, they aren't perfect, and expecting them to be so is unrealistic.

It is actually not very good writing to engage in such cliché, even in dialogue. You should not want your reader to translate what you are saying into a cliché they know and think, 'Ah, he really means **only human**.'

If I am reading about ant folk, I expect them to come up with their own clichés, not borrow those of humans.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-11-11T18:49:28Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 6