I don't want to alarm you, but

and I don't want to upset you, but

an expression used to introduce bad or shocking news or gossip. Bill: I don't want to alarm you, but I see someone prowling around your car. Mary: Oh, goodness! I'll call the police! Bob: I don't want to upset you, but I have some bad news. Tom: Let me have it.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ridley	RID-lee	English (Rare)
Campbell	['kæmbl]
Firenze	-	Various
Valter	-	Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Slovene, Croatian, Estonian
Sebastian	ze-BAHS-tee-ahn (German), sə-BAS-chən (English), se-BAHS-tyahn (Polish), SE-bahs-tee-ahn (Finnish)	German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Finnish, Romanian
Claude	KLOD (French), KLAWD (English)	French, English