Fun Fact of the Week: Phobias
Phobia comes from the Greek word ph— Ah you all know what they are. We have ‘em, there’s one for just about everything that exists, although they may or may not be “real” or “medically documented,” for whatever that’s worth. Today is Friday the 13th, so enjoy some phobias I found online.
The basics:
Arachnophobia– Fear of Spiders. Only one kind of venomous spider lives in Oregon, the Western Black Widow.
Ophidiophobia– Fear of Snakes. Only one kind of venomous snake in Oregon, the Pacific Rattlesnake.
Claustrophobia– Fear of small spaces. Probably not as hard to deal with as:
Agoraphobia– Fear of open spaces
Aerophobia– Fear of flying. Maybe you’re just chicken.
Acrophobia– Fear of heights. Curiously separate from:
Basiphobia– Fear of falling, which is more about falling from a sitting or standing position rather than a high place.
Some more uncommon ones:
Paraskevidekatriaphobia– Fear of Friday the 13th. HEEEY how topical…
Atychiphobia– Fear of failure. Hits hard sometimes.
Thanatophobia– Fear of death. Hits harder sometimes.
Aphenphosmphobia– Fear of intimacy. Hits hardest sometimes.
Athazagoraphobia– Fear of being forgotten. This is giving me an existential crisis.
Didaskaleinophobia– Fear of school. ‘Tis a daunting beast.
Ergophobia– Fear of work. ‘Tis an even more daunting beast.
Gamophobia– Fear of commitment. Tinder bio questionnaire?
Allodoxaphobia– Fear of opinions. Specifically, other’s opinions about oneself.
Decidophobia– Fear of making decisions. AKA… indecisive?
Coitophobia– Fear of coitus.…
Iatrophobia– Fear of doctors. Hey, an apple a day and you’re golden.
Pediophobia– Fear of dolls. Valid.
Phasmophobia– Fear of ghosts. Boo! Did I scare you?
Atomosophobia– Fear of atomic explosions. BOOM!
Why is this a thing?
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia– Fear of long words. Some dickwad must’ve felt real clever coming up with this one.
Xanthophobia– Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow.
Globophobia– Fear of balloons. Clowns just got so much more scary (Coulrophobia).
Genuphobia– Fear of knees. That one sure is the bee (Apiphobia–Fear of bees)’s knees.
Koumpounophobia– Fear of buttons. Paid for by Big Zipper.
Dendrophobia– Fear of trees. But they move so slowly…
Ephebiphobia– Fear of teenagers. Seems fair. They are pretty vile.
Telephonophobia– Fear of talking on the phone. Say that 10 times fast.
Dutchphobia– Fear of the Dutch. Who’s got a bone to pick with the Dutch?
Bolshephobia– Fear of Bolsheviks. Menshiviks had this one real bad.
Barophobia– Fear of gravity. Newton really had to do it to us like that. Smh.
Caligynephobia– Fear of beautiful women.
Cherophobia– Fear of gaiety. JWC is now known as The Anti-Cherophobia Club.
Hellenologophobia– Fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology. Reed ain’t the place for you.
Symbolophobia– Fear of symbolism. STEM majors, raise your hands.
Numerophobia– Fear of numbers. Humanities majors, raise your hands.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia– Fear of the number 666.
Triskaidekaphobia– Fear of the number 13 or the bad luck that follows.
Autodysomophobia– Fear of one that has a vile odor. Probably similar to:
Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia– Fear of body smells. You might also have:
Rhypophobia– Fear of defecation. Not as weird as:
Arachibutyrophobia– Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. No way this is real…
Doxophobia– Fear of expressing opinions. Nobody at Reed has this it seems.
Anablephobia– Fear of looking up. But what if there’s a spider above you?
Phobophobia– Fear of fear. ”The only thing to fear is fear itself” is a dumb phrase IMO.
Epistemophobia–Fear of knowledge. The more you know…
Sourced mostly from www.fearof.net and http://phobialist.com/
If you have a fun fact or topic that you would like to be brought to light, email me at qhoop@reed.edu!