So, you want to know what to say instead of brain fart in your writing, right?
You’re a little concerned the phrase is immature or rude, and you’ve come to the right place to learn more.
This article will teach you how to say brain fart professionally. After this, you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.
6 Alternative Ways to Say “Brain Fart”
You can review the following alternatives to learn a better way to say brain fart:
- Mental lapse
- Oversight
- Mental hiccup
- Mind glitch
- Lapse in judgment
- It escaped my mind
1. Mental Lapse
You can use mental lapse as a professional way to say brain fart.
This works really well because it avoids the immaturity of the original phrase. Instead, it simply shows that you made a mistake or forgot to do something.
You can use this when apologizing to your boss. It’s effective because it shows that something slipped your mind, and you didn’t mean to make a mistake that affected you or your work.
For the most part, your boss will forgive you. At the very least, they’ll be happy you stayed mature by using mental lapse rather than brain fart.
Here is a great email sample to help you understand more about it:
Dear Mr. Scott,
I’m afraid I had a bit of a mental lapse here.
I’m not sure what went wrong, but I’ll do everything I can to prevent it from happening again.
Best regards,
Don Sherrin
2. Oversight
You can use oversight as another word for brain fart. This time, keeping it as one word helps to simplify and streamline your writing.
Try using it when you want to get to the point quickly. It’s formal and suggests that you made a small error that led to a direct oversight or mistake.
Again, it’s a good chance for you to own a mistake. It suggests that you realize where you went wrong and will do what you can to correct an issue.
Also, an oversight can relate to forgetting something. That’s why it works well when directly switching out brain fart from your writing.
Here is a helpful email sample to show you how it works if you’re still unsure:
Dear Miss Hall,
I clearly made an oversight here.
I’ll look into the situation to see if there’s anything I can do to correct what went wrong.
Yours,
George North
3. Mental Hiccup
To be mature and professional, you can say you had a mental hiccup. This is another way to say brain fart that shows you accidentally forgot to do something.
Everyone has hiccups like these. We’re only human, and sometimes, it’s all too easy to make small mistakes or forget things that people have asked of you.
So, you can use this when explaining a mistake to a coworker. It’ll give them more insight into what went wrong and how you managed to mess something up.
You can also check out this email sample to learn how to use mental hiccup in a sentence:
Dear Daniel,
It’s frustrating because I had a bit of a mental hiccup and couldn’t remember the order.
Otherwise, I would have been fine to move forward with this.
All the best,
Suzie Clark
4. Mind Glitch
The next synonym we recommend using in your writing is mind glitch.
This is a fun and light-hearted way to let someone know you forgot to do something.
While brain fart is fun as well, it’s a bit too immature for the workplace.
That’s why mind glitch works better. It’s not immature, but it still adds a bit of fun when emailing someone. So, you can use it when writing to an employee to explain how you forgot something.
Feel free to review the following sample email if you still need help with it:
Dear Joey,
Of course, I can see what I’ve done wrong now.
I had a slight mind glitch, and now I’ll do what I can to go back and fix it.
Yours,
Duncan Banner
5. Lapse in Judgment
We also think it’s worth using lapse in judgment instead of brain fart.
This is a more informative way to let someone know how you forgot something. Generally, you can use it to show you made a mistake or error that you’re trying to work on.
For the most part, this works when apologizing to customers. It shows you take full responsibility for your actions and want to do whatever you can to fix your mistake.
Of course, this should make the customer trust you more. That should work in your favor moving forward.
Also, you can check out the following email sample to learn a bit more about it:
Dear Mr. Clarkson,
I’m so sorry about this, as I had a minor lapse in judgment.
I’ve since corrected the issue, and I’d like to refer your attention to what I’ve been working on.
All the best,
Martin Clunes
6. It Escaped My Mind
Finally, we recommend using it escaped my mind instead of brain fart. This is a phrasal alternative that allows you to explain why you forgot to do something.
While it doesn’t give an excuse, saying it escaped my mind lets someone know you simply didn’t remember something.
It’s formal and honest. That’s why it works really well in emails.
So, you can use it when apologizing to your boss. It suggests you realize your mistake and don’t plan on making it again anytime soon.
Here is an email sample to show you more about how it works if you still need assistance:
Dear Mr. Bennett,
It escaped my mind, I’m afraid. So, I didn’t get around to it.
However, I’d be happy to start working on it now if that’s good for you.
Best regards,
Dana Proctor
Is It Correct to Say “Brain Fart”?
It is correct to say brain fart, but it is inappropriate and immature in most written cases.
You should not say it at work. Most of the time, it’s an immature way to show you had a temporary memory lapse or made a simple mistake.
It means you forgot something. In the simplest way, it shows you made a brief mistake and didn’t realize that you made an oversight.
Feel free to review the following text message sample to learn more about it:
I’m sorry, but that was definitely a brain fart on my end! I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to correct it.
You might also come across brain fog. This is a variation of the phrase, but it’s much less common.
Still, you can refer to the following sample to learn more:
Thanks to my brain fog, I did not remember to do that! I’ll get to work on it immediately, though.
Sometimes, you’ll see brain fart written as one word. However, we don’t recommend doing this as it’s incorrect and doesn’t make sense in your writing.
Mistake: Writing it as one word
- Correct: Brain fart
- Incorrect: Brainfart
Well, it’s clear that brain fart is inappropriate in the workplace. Therefore, you should explore some of our alternatives to see what else is available to include in formal writing.
