Trigger Warning

Noun.

The emotional equivalent of a spoiler alert. Just as you might want to be alerted if a review states that Bruce Willis turns out to be a ghost in The Sixth Sense (look, it’s been 22 years...), some people want to know if what they’re about to read might bring up memories of a trauma they’ve suffered. Advocates say that trigger warnings are simply thoughtful; critics think that you should just toughen up and accept every last scrap of harrowing awfulness the world has to fling at you.

SAY: “Trigger warning: this article is a bit preachy.”