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Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by faitswulff on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @11:54AM (#16698733)
The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets and those who have experienced traumatic events in their past that would cause severe distress, not as a synonym for "annoyed."

A veteran who relives the horrors of war when fireworks go off is not nearly in the same space as a developer who is annoyed that someone misused technical jargon.

Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by Xeoncross on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @12:24PM (#16699092)
> The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets

Certainly not. While many military personal certainly have faced mind-altering situations, they are far from the only ones who have ever suffered from traumatic events.

Children and Women are the subjects of the most twisted and abusive stories I've ever been able to fathom.

Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by therapeutic on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @01:45PM (#16699968)
The full quote is:

> The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets AND those who have experienced traumatic events in their past that would cause severe distress

(emphasis mine)

You can't just cut a sentence in half and then try to form an argument against it. That's not fair.

Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by Xeoncross on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @03:29PM (#16701026)
I agree, I don't think it said that when I wrote my comment.
Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by faitswulff on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @03:35PM (#16701082)
It likely did not, I edited a few times.
Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by wale on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @04:38PM (#16701683)
lmao. "You can't just cut a sentence in half and then try to form an argument against it. That's not fair." -- legit not fair
Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by Mithaldu on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @12:43PM (#16699299)
At least people misusing the word "triggered" provide a good signal that they're posting in bad faith. :)
Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by o_____________o on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @02:22PM (#16700331)
Words shift in meaning over time. They're defined by the active usage, not the ideal usage. Resisting that change is like trying to fence in water, however righteous it feels.
Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by faitswulff on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @03:18PM (#16700912)
As with most things, the choice is more difficult than either giving up and accepting a new, more lax definition, or "righteously" rejecting it. That process requires an application of judgment. In this case, my judgment says that it's an unnecessary cheapening of a psychological term, and that pointing out its origins might help people understand why.

Simply giving up on definitions means always ceding power.

Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by o_____________o on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @03:57PM (#16701319)
It's not giving up so much as accepting that there's theater in chastising linguistic drift. Telling strangers they shouldn't use a newer, ironic form of a word is as hopeless as The Very Smart Guy raging at people over "literally" not being literal.

The entire world is participating in shaping English and we have no Académie Française equivalent. Sometimes the changes are unflattering.

That said, I do appreciate your points and see your intention with empathy about this word in particular.

Re:Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google h... by faitswulff on Wednesday March 28, 2018 @04:26PM (#16701592)
I don't think that the fact that there _is_ theater renders the underlying struggle worthless, though. Words have meanings, and in the case of law, quite serious repercussions - eg. corporate personhood.

It's not so much "you shouldn't use that word in that manner because of some linguistic pedantry" but "you shouldn't use that word because the externalities of doing so have outsized effects on certain people," or for the self-centered and machiavellian, "you make yourself look bad when you use it such."

As you say, it is a matter of empathy. The N-word has been around for a while - it's still not acceptable for certain people to say it[0]. As for why, that's a matter of education, and it begins with pointing it out.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO15S3WC9pg