Has anyone else noticed that the toughest words in the English dictionary usually have something to do with Phobias?
Illyngophobia?
Athazagoraphobia?
Dermatopathophobia?
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia?
You have GOT to be kidding me !
OK it's official, I have a fear of the phobia list !
I never really thought about it, but now realise that this is something to think about: how many people really exist in this world .. and every single one [except maybe a VERY SMALL CREED OF PEOPLE] are afraid of something or the other, however courageous they might try to appear upfront [though, of course, courage is not not feeling afraid; courage is the power to overcome fear to work for something that needs done].
I mean, I was recently going through the list of fears and you wouldn't believe what all people can be afraid of ! Well, there's Panophobia, which is basically fear of everything.. turns out, there are also fears of birds, heavens, eyes, dreams, rain and sleep as well.
†So for future reference, here's a relatively short list of what I consider 'rational fears' =†
Acrophobia - Fear of heights [one might accidentaly just fall over and DIE]
Achluophobia - Fear of darkness [well, not exactly 'rational' .. but common anyway]
Agraphobia - Fear of sexual abuse [yes, this one is definitely rational]
Antlophobia - Fear of floods [ok, unless you're one of the animals on the ark or Noah himself, you should definitely be scared of floods]
Atychiphobia - Fear of failure [yes well, don't we all have the 'OMG I'm going to fail my Social Science exam' moments?]
Carcinophobia - Fear of cancer [hmm, cancer is DEFINITELY scary]
Catagelophobia - Fear of being ridiculed [yes, if you're changing schools/tuition/cities/countries .. or anything else, there always is this little fear]
Coimetrophobia - Fear of cemeteries [well, not exactly 'rational', but yes, common. "Look out! There's a skeleton behind you !]
Coprastasophobia - Fear of constipation [milk of magnesia, anyone?]
Defecaloesiophobia - Fear of painful bowels movements [ouch]
Dystychiphobia - Fear of accidents [somebody should go and watch the Family Guy movie, who knew one tiny accident could change so much?]
Enissophobia - Fear of having committed an unpardonable sin [I mention this because I myself am very scared of ever doing anything that would ruin my reputation for life]
Gerascophobia - Fear of growing old [reminds me of The Mirror by Sylvia Plath]
Lilapsophobia - Fear of tornadoes and hurricanes [refer to Anthlophobia]
Panthophobia - Fear of suffering and disease [well, self-explanatory]
Samhainophobia - Fear of Halloween [Well, India's perfect for them, isn't it?]
Selachophobia - Fear of sharks [ha, JAWS]
Thantophobia - Fear of death or dying [no comments here]
†And this is my list of fears that are nothing but plain hilarious =†
Aerophobia - Fear of swallowing air [aah, that is very interesting]
Arachibutyrophobia - Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth [Ok, this is simply classic]
Bogyphobia - Fear of the bogeyman ['He's in my cupboard!']
Caligynephobia - Fear of beautiful women [too seductive, you think?]
Coulrophobia - Fear of clowns [you know, clowns can be pretty scary =P]
Cyprinophobia - Fear of prostitutes [aww, the guys who have this will sure be taunted]
Ephebiphobia - Fear of teenagers [nice to know we scare some people!]
Ereuthrophobia - Fear of blushing [not ready to face the embarassment just yet?]
Erotophobia - Fear of sexual love [uh-huh]
Geliophobia - Fear of laughter ["No, don't tell me jokes! I'm afraid of laughing and hearing people laugh!"
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - Fear of the number 666 [funny, this]
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - Fear of long words [is this somebody's idea of a joke?]
Hominophobia - Fear of men [well, I am also afraid of men, some at least, including those dark strange ones walking on the road with their mouths full of tobacco]
Ithyphallophobia - Fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis [at least you know these one's will never watch porn!]
Judeophobia - Fear of Jews [I'm sure Hitler secretly had a case of Judeophobia, because that would explain a lot]
Lachanophobia - Fear of vegetables ["Mom, I don't like the way that Zucchini's staring at me"]
Malaxophobia - Fear of foreplay [Hmm, suppose you call over your better half over and there's nobody else at home? Aah! Nightmare ;)]
Metrophobia - Fear of poetry [Well .. its hard to even imagine somebody being scared of poetry. Bored, yes.. but scared?]
Papaphobia - Fear of the Pope [HA!]
Parthenophobia - Fear of virgins or young girls [wow, impressive, this]
Pediophobia - Fear of dolls [refer to *Coulrophobia, you know there's a reason why horror movies have so many dolls lying around]
Pentheraphobia - Fear of one's mother-in-law [Go watch Monster in-law. That ought to give you an idea]
Peladophobia - Fear of bald people ["Oh no! You're BALD"]
Phobophobia - Fear of fear [whoa, leave this page right now!]
Teutophobia - Fear of German [Haha, refer to my earlier post]
So you see, fear is a really interesting concept once you start thinking about it. I'm sure as we move on in life, we'll come across many people who are afraid of things people wouldn't people was possible, for example wearing shoes, eating chocolate, fingernails.
Wow, it makes me so happy just thinking about people who would be afraid of the above mentioned. Can't wait to find a victim to try Scare Tactics on !
More Later.
Signing Off.
Mallika Priya Khullar
