blank slates
Fresh beginning surfaces
Blank slates are people or things without prior experience, training, or characteristics—ready to be shaped or written upon.
The metaphor comes from the philosophical concept that minds begin empty, acquiring knowledge only through experience.
New hires are blank slates we can train our way.
Also used for fresh starts: After the restructuring, we're working with blank slates.
- unmarkedHaving no visible identification
- open bookOne easily understood
- fresh startOpportunity to restart unburdened
- starting overBeginning again from scratch
- clean breakComplete, uncomplicated severance
beginning · impressionable · palimpsest · carte blanche · clean · newborn · born yesterday · Locke · draw · reset · philosophy of mind · empty · empty vessel · inexperience · canvas · untouched · formative · empiricism
blank slatesgenetic determinism
Heredity alone shapes traits
nativism · genetic predispositions · inherited traits · hard-wired · born with
blank slatesold hands
Experienced, skilled people
experts · worldly-wise · battle-scarred · indoctrinated · conditioned
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