diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt
index 2afa28bb5aa..431d424f9d5 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-trace2.txt
@@ -685,8 +685,8 @@ The "exec_id" field is a command-unique id and is only useful if the
 
 `"thread_start"`::
 	This event is generated when a thread is started.  It is
-	generated from *within* the new thread's thread-proc (for TLS
-	reasons).
+	generated from *within* the new thread's thread-proc (because
+	it needs to access data in the thread's thread-local storage).
 +
 ------------
 {
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ The "exec_id" field is a command-unique id and is only useful if the
 
 `"thread_exit"`::
 	This event is generated when a thread exits.  It is generated
-	from *within* the thread's thread-proc (for TLS reasons).
+	from *within* the thread's thread-proc.
 +
 ------------
 {
@@ -1206,7 +1206,7 @@ worked on 508 items at offset 2032.  Thread "th04" worked on 508 items
 at offset 508.
 +
 This example also shows that thread names are assigned in a racy manner
-as each thread starts and allocates TLS storage.
+as each thread starts.
 
 Config (def param) Events::
 
diff --git a/trace2.c b/trace2.c
index 0c0a11e07d5..c1244e45ace 100644
--- a/trace2.c
+++ b/trace2.c
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ static struct tr2_tgt *tr2_tgt_builtins[] =
  * Force (rather than lazily) initialize any of the requested
  * builtin TRACE2 targets at startup (and before we've seen an
  * actual TRACE2 event call) so we can see if we need to setup
- * the TR2 and TLS machinery.
+ * private data structures and thread-local storage.
  *
  * Return the number of builtin targets enabled.
  */
diff --git a/trace2.h b/trace2.h
index 88d906ea830..af3c11694cc 100644
--- a/trace2.h
+++ b/trace2.h
@@ -73,8 +73,7 @@ void trace2_initialize_clock(void);
 /*
  * Initialize TRACE2 tracing facility if any of the builtin TRACE2
  * targets are enabled in the system config or the environment.
- * This includes setting up the Trace2 thread local storage (TLS).
- * Emits a 'version' message containing the version of git
+ * This emits a 'version' message containing the version of git
  * and the Trace2 protocol.
  *
  * This function should be called from `main()` as early as possible in
@@ -302,7 +301,8 @@ void trace2_exec_result_fl(const char *file, int line, int exec_id, int code);
 
 /*
  * Emit a 'thread_start' event.  This must be called from inside the
- * thread-proc to set up the trace2 TLS data for the thread.
+ * thread-proc to allow the thread to create its own thread-local
+ * storage.
  *
  * Thread names should be descriptive, like "preload_index".
  * Thread names will be decorated with an instance number automatically.
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ void trace2_thread_start_fl(const char *file, int line,
 
 /*
  * Emit a 'thread_exit' event.  This must be called from inside the
- * thread-proc to report thread-specific data and cleanup TLS data
- * for the thread.
+ * thread-proc so that the thread can access and clean up its
+ * thread-local storage.
  */
 void trace2_thread_exit_fl(const char *file, int line);
 
diff --git a/trace2/tr2_tls.c b/trace2/tr2_tls.c
index 7da94aba522..8d2182fbdbb 100644
--- a/trace2/tr2_tls.c
+++ b/trace2/tr2_tls.c
@@ -69,9 +69,9 @@ struct tr2tls_thread_ctx *tr2tls_get_self(void)
 	ctx = pthread_getspecific(tr2tls_key);
 
 	/*
-	 * If the thread-proc did not call trace2_thread_start(), we won't
-	 * have any TLS data associated with the current thread.  Fix it
-	 * here and silently continue.
+	 * If the current thread's thread-proc did not call
+	 * trace2_thread_start(), then the thread will not have any
+	 * thread-local storage.  Create it now and silently continue.
 	 */
 	if (!ctx)
 		ctx = tr2tls_create_self("unknown", getnanotime() / 1000);
diff --git a/trace2/tr2_tls.h b/trace2/tr2_tls.h
index a90bd639d48..1297509fd23 100644
--- a/trace2/tr2_tls.h
+++ b/trace2/tr2_tls.h
@@ -3,6 +3,12 @@
 
 #include "strbuf.h"
 
+/*
+ * Notice: the term "TLS" refers to "thread-local storage" in the
+ * Trace2 source files.  This usage is borrowed from GCC and Windows.
+ * There is NO relation to "transport layer security".
+ */
+
 /*
  * Arbitry limit for thread names for column alignment.
  */
@@ -17,9 +23,7 @@ struct tr2tls_thread_ctx {
 };
 
 /*
- * Create TLS data for the current thread.  This gives us a place to
- * put per-thread data, such as thread start time, function nesting
- * and a per-thread label for our messages.
+ * Create thread-local storage for the current thread.
  *
  * We assume the first thread is "main".  Other threads are given
  * non-zero thread-ids to help distinguish messages from concurrent
@@ -35,7 +39,7 @@ struct tr2tls_thread_ctx *tr2tls_create_self(const char *thread_name,
 					     uint64_t us_thread_start);
 
 /*
- * Get our TLS data.
+ * Get the thread-local storage pointer of the current thread.
  */
 struct tr2tls_thread_ctx *tr2tls_get_self(void);
 
@@ -45,7 +49,7 @@ struct tr2tls_thread_ctx *tr2tls_get_self(void);
 int tr2tls_is_main_thread(void);
 
 /*
- * Free our TLS data.
+ * Free the current thread's thread-local storage.
  */
 void tr2tls_unset_self(void);
 
@@ -81,12 +85,12 @@ uint64_t tr2tls_region_elasped_self(uint64_t us);
 uint64_t tr2tls_absolute_elapsed(uint64_t us);
 
 /*
- * Initialize the tr2 TLS system.
+ * Initialize thread-local storage for Trace2.
  */
 void tr2tls_init(void);
 
 /*
- * Free all tr2 TLS resources.
+ * Free all Trace2 thread-local storage resources.
  */
 void tr2tls_release(void);
 
