Maybe instead of "paying off tech debt" we should sell it as "frog-cooling." I'm only half joking. They'll respond to that by saying "WTF?" and you can be like

Maybe instead of "paying off tech debt" we should sell it as "frog-cooling." I'm only half joking. They'll respond to that by saying "WTF?" and you can be like "Yeah the frog's been in the pot not realizing it's heating up, and is about to boil." Gives it some urgency.