<?php
// a very beatiful way to do multiple replacements is this one, using just one array
$replaceThis = Array(
'old word' => 'new word',
'was' => 'it',
'past' => 'future',
);
$originalText = "every old word was a thing of the past...";
$replacedText = str_replace(array_keys($replaceThis), $replaceThis, $originalText);
echo $replacedText;
?>