The European Union has urged legislators and policymakers to abandon ‘gendered language’ including “no man’s land”.

Bureaucrats said the WWI phrase should be replaced with “unclaimed territory”, while “Joe Public” should instead be “average citizen”, according to a report by The Telegraph.

A Tory MP has branded the guidelines as ‘nonsense’ and said the EU had ‘far more serious issues’ that it should be concerned about.

A 61-page document compiled by the The European Institute for Gender Equality outlined offending language and provides alternatives.

Titled a “Toolkit on Gender-sensitive Communication”, the bundle advised against terms such as “pushy” and “shrill” which have “connotations strongly associated with only women”.

Instead, the institute recommends “assertive” for the former and “high-pitched” for the latter.

Meanwhile “virile”, which is considered to be “strongly associated with only men” should be replaced by “strong or energetic”, according to the paper’s authors.

Legislators, policymakers and the media have also been advised to reconsider the order of common phrases such as “King and Queen” or “brother and sister” where the male of the pair is placed first.

“Try swapping the order of these phrases sometimes”, the document suggested.

The classic Star Trek line, “To boldly go where no man has gone before”, has also been also cited as an example where “women may be subject to invisibility or omission”.