Wednesday 19 March 2008

Who's Afraid...

Another thing that amuses me, asides from random collective nouns, is obscure phobias.

If you ever get a dull day at work, or the rain is pouring down outside checkout http://www.phobialist.com/#A- which has a list of every phobia you can think of, and a few you'd rather not.

I mean - the person who suffers from Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.) has a relatively easy life - just don't eat Peanut Butter, as does the sufferer of Coulrophobia (Fear of clowns), but how does the person who suffers from Barophobia (Fear of gravity.) cope, short of spending 10 years training as an astronaut?

More importantly - how does one discover that one has a fear of otters (Lutraphobia) - i mean, one doesn't exactly see them walking down the street on a daily basis.

Also - what is there, precisely, to fear about chopsticks (Consecotaleophobia)? When was the last time you, or any of your friends, was attacked by a rampaging mob of chopsticks. Finally - how can the person with Amnesiphobia (Fear of amnesia) be sure they haven't already got amnesia

That one must keep them awake at nights!

OK, so it's neither right or fair to laugh at these poor sods - but it makes you realise what a strange world we live in

3 comments:

A. Stageman said...

*Ahem* Hahaha. The peanut butter phobia is the best.

Though I do feel a bit sorry for people who live their lives in such strange fear, I do not pity them. They create those fears for themselves and have just as much power to create as to overcome.

Hanna said...

Haha very amusing. Peanut butter! Oh, I have a fear for lingonberry jam then. I really hate the smell of that jam. :S

Anonymous said...

Amnesiphobes got it easy. They don't have to worry about seeing any effect it has on them, since they won't know it. But then again, if you lose your memory, does the fear stay?

I think they fear it when it's seen in other people.