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the title is:

"If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything?"

the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/opinion/caleb-love-bombing-gaslighting-trauma.html

I read throght even with some sort of dificulty but can't make a link with the text with its title

ColleenV
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henryke araudjo
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  • I can't read the article itself (can't be bothered with NYT's constant nagging to get me to take out a subscription). But I'm sure it's just some reporter's idea of clever "wordplay". Don't copy it. – FumbleFingers Feb 04 '22 at 13:28
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    If everything is "trauma", is anything ["trauma"]? The author argues that nowadays the word "trauma" is used loosely, vaguely, particularly on social media, and we need to be more precise in our expressions. If you start calling everything "trauma", you lose the meaning of the word and you can't tell the difference between "a real trauma" and "a so-called trauma". – Andrew Tobilko Feb 04 '22 at 13:43
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    @FumbleFingers, thanks for your attention. I'm trying to be more fluid in thinking in English and knowing what this title is intended to convey would help me in the process of building my own sentences, get it? it is a wordplay as you told what is him trying to say? – henryke araudjo Feb 04 '22 at 13:46
  • @Andrew Tobilk, "If everything is "trauma", is anything ["trauma"]? " how did you make the reasoning of repeating the word trauma after anything ??? – henryke araudjo Feb 04 '22 at 13:49
  • There's no meaningful grammar or syntax here. Arguably it would have been more "grammatical" for the headline to read If everything is traumatic, is anything? Really, it's just a facile attention-grabbing headline probably making the point that if mainstream media continue with their current trend towards finding evidence of traumatic experiences everywhere, they'll end up debasing the meaning of the term. If you classify *everything* as "X", the designation "X" eventually ceases to have any meaning whatsoever. – FumbleFingers Feb 04 '22 at 13:57
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    @henrykearaudjo by asking a question "is anything what?" – Andrew Tobilko Feb 04 '22 at 13:58
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    General rule of thumb: don't post links to paywalled articles. Another helpful tip: don't try to learn grammar from headlines. – FeliniusRex - gone Feb 04 '22 at 18:19
  • @FumbleFingers I get we ask ourselfs "is anything what" to complete the sentence in our mind as Adrew Tobiko said but differently of most of you my mind came back wth different answer so in my mind it was like: "If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything [NOT TRAUMA]? implying that everything is trauma now a days. SO there is not NOT TRAUMA anymore. Make sense? – henryke araudjo Feb 05 '22 at 12:11
  • @all, is that a valid interpretation to think of it as "If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything not trauma?" implying EVERY behavioral problem stem from traumas so "NO trauma" is not option anymore? – henryke araudjo Feb 06 '22 at 14:48
  • @henrykearaudjo: No. No native English speaker would understand the ellipsis "is anything not Trauma". – Colin Fine Aug 16 '22 at 18:58

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