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Mind your language

Trigger warning: this is an article about the word ‘trigger’

As a mature woman I am angry at the childish passive-aggressive mentality of the Columbia Four

13 June 2015

9:00 AM

13 June 2015

9:00 AM

A notion is going about that, just as readers of film reviews receive spoiler alerts, so readers of anything should get a trigger warning. Otherwise something nasty in the woodshed might trigger post-traumatic stress disorder or worse.

‘I use the phrase trigger warning myself,’ wrote Kate Maltby in a Spectator blog the other day, ‘to warn Facebook friends that they may not wish to click on a link because it is likely to automatically “trigger” flashbacks for survivors of trauma.’

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