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I'm Scared!
August 08, 2002, 19:09
MorganI'm Scared!
Kalleh suggested a thread on
phobias to complement our thread on manias. So, to get started:
Amathophobia--Fear of dust (uhh...don't come to my house if you suffer from this!)
Chrematophobia--Fear of money (yeah...right!)
Eosophobia--Fear of dawn (Dracula?
)
Kenophobia--Fear of empty spaces (I did NOT make this one up!)
Phronemophobia--Fear of thinking (Maybe this is my son's problem?)
Soceraphobia--Fear of parents-in-law ('Nuff said!)
August 08, 2002, 20:52
wildflowerchildfear of englishmen‹
August 08, 2002, 22:08
Morganquote:
anglophilia
fear of englishmen‹
Anglophilia is the admiration of England...not the fear.
Anglophobia may be the fear of Englishmen though.
I know a certain Englishman i would rather have a philia about, rather than a phobia of!
August 09, 2002, 02:39
arnieI reckon you could take almost any Greek noun and append
-phobia: someone, somewhere, is bound to be scared of it!
Triskadekaphobia: Fear of the number thirteen;
Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th.
Parthenophobia: Fear of virgins (!)
Primeisodophobia: Fear of losing one's virginity;
Ergophobia or Ponophobia: Fear of work;
Ephebiphobia: Fear of teenagers;
Phobophobia: Fear of fear (duh);
Pentheraphobia: Fear of your mother-in-law;
Dentophobia: Fear of dentists;
Cyberphobia: Fear of computers or working on computers;
Stasibasiphobia Fear of standing up and walking (I couldn't find a fear of chewing gum);
Hellenologophobia: Fear of long Greek words like this one.
August 09, 2002, 02:58
arnieThat word makes me wonder what a doctor says when he discovers that someone is suffering from this condition.
"I've found out what's wrong, Mr Smith. You're suffering from
hellenologophobia."
"Mr Smith? Please come down from the top of the closet."
or perhaps:
"I've found out what's wrong, Mr Smith. I can't tell you what it is, though."
"Why not?"
"Its name would only make you worse."
"Argh! I'm going to die, aren't I? Otherwise you'd tell me."
"Now, now, Mr Smith. There's no need to get thanatophobic about it..."
"Mr Smith? Please come down from the top of the closet."
August 09, 2002, 06:31
Morganquote:
...There's no need to get thanatophobic about it..."
Thantophobia--Fear of death or dying
And from another thread:
quote:
Asa, whose hair blew away, leaving more room for the important cranial tissue
Do these help explain why, Asa?
Trichophobia--Fear of hair
Phalacrophobia--Fear of becoming bald
(Not to worry, Asa...I loves ya anyway! [big kissssssssss-e]
August 09, 2002, 09:50
KallehWell, gee, Arnie, thanks! You took my
2 favorites!
paraskavedekatriaphobia and
parthenophobiaHere are some other fun ones:
kakorrhaphiophobia - fear of failure
rhytiphobia - fear of wrinkles (a fear of many women!)
koimetrophobia - fear of cemetaries
cacohydrophobia - fear of sewer water (I had to include that, considering our cacography thread!)
calligyniaphobia - fear of beautiful women (especially those who are callipygous (?!!)
August 09, 2002, 17:01
shufitzAnd what's the one phobia-word that's in fact not a mental condition but rather a physical condition (and thus in that sense, the word is a caconym)?
August 09, 2002, 18:03
wildflowerchildfear of babies.@
August 12, 2002, 03:04
arnieA few more good 'uns:
Walloonphobia: Fear of the Walloons (Huh?)
Samhainophobia: Fear of Halloween
Pteronophobia: Fear of being tickled by feathers
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: Fear of long words
Didaskaleinophobia: Fear of going to school
Bogyphobia: Fear of bogies or the bogeyman
Arachibutyrophobia: Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.
August 12, 2002, 16:28
wildflowerchildyou just made those up just now!
August 12, 2002, 20:07
Morganquote:
Bogyphobia: Fear of bogies or the bogeyman
I'm not quite sure what the
bogeyman is, though.
Round here, it would be
Boogyphobia. The fear of the
boogie man or of nose pickers?
August 13, 2002, 01:41
arnieThe bogeyman is an imaginary monster used to frighten children. There are several spellings in use -- boogieman is another variant. Bogies are evil or mischievous spirits. Again, there are several variants: boogie, booger, bogle, etc.
Bogey is also one over par in golf, a particular arrangement of wheels in a tank or a train, an unidentified flying aircraft, dried mucus, a policeman and Humphrey Bogart.
August 13, 2002, 06:27
MorganOn that note....is there a word for a fear of bosses...or better yet, of being late for work? No, it's not a fear of being late, it's a fear of being caught when you get there late!
(whistling as I leave..."hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.......")
August 13, 2002, 08:37
arnieOK, here goes. I can't find anything, so we'll just have to coin them.
Fear of the boss =
anaxtiophobia.
Fear of being caught when late =
halopsiophobia.
Apologies to Greeks everywhere for my mangling of their language.
August 13, 2002, 12:24
Morgan[big kiss] Arnie, I knew I could count on you!
August 13, 2002, 18:31
wordnerd gamophobia - Fear of marriage.
anuptaphobia - Fear of staying single.
coitophobia - [self-explanatory]
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words.
PS: Yep, arnie, it looks as if you and I googled up the same source. Take a look at that last one: does the second double-p seem like an error? Does it really have two P?
[pun intended
]
August 13, 2002, 18:56
shufitzOK, so it's bad form to answer my own question. Forgive me, please!
Q: "And what's the one phobia-word that's in fact not a mental condition but rather a physical condition (and thus in that sense, the word is a caconym)?"
A: hydrophobia = rabies. But it also means "fear of water".
More A: I find that it's not the "
one phobia-word" like this. Another is
photophobia which, in the same way, means both "abnormal sensitivity, of the eyes, to light" and also "fear of light". Also, a plant is "photophobic" if it grows best in the absence of light.
August 14, 2002, 03:02
arnie Sesquipedalophobia is a much more sensible word for the fear of long words. The
Sesquipedal part literally means "a foot and a half long". The Roman poet Horace wrote in
Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry):
Proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, "He throws aside his paint pots and his words that are a foot and a half long".
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, I'd guess, was invented as a joke. Someone thought that we ought to have a
really long word for this phobia and coined a word that means "fear of a monstrous hippopotamus of a word, one a foot and a half long". As mentioned, the double p in the middle is an error, since
sesquipedal itself only has one. Unless the coiner thought the word wasn't quite long enough...
[This message was edited by arnie on Wed Aug 14th, 2002 at 4:13.]
August 14, 2002, 05:57
shufitz"
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, I'd guess, was invented as a joke."
So we've agreed that we
floccinaucinihilipate that word?
From Dr. Dictionary:
Q. What does "
floccinaucinihilipilification" mean?
A. It means "the estimation of something as worthless."
August 14, 2002, 06:32
arnieIt was obviously coined by someone with the same mindset as the inventors of floccinaucinihilipilification.
The origins of this word are quite interesting. Eton College, a famous English public (that is, private) school used a Latin grammar that included these words for "of little or no value":
- flocci: derived from floccus, literally a tuft of wool and the source of English words like flocculate, but figuratively in Latin meaning "something trivial";
- pili: the plural of pilus, a hair, which we have inherited in words like "depilatory", but which in Latin could mean a whit, jot, trifle or something insignificant;
- nihil: nothing, as in words like "nihilism" and "annihilate";
- nauci: means "worthless".
The originator of the "word" then stuck
-fication on the end to make a noun.
[This message was edited by arnie on Wed Aug 14th, 2002 at 6:41.]
August 14, 2002, 14:52
shufitzFrom a column in today's local newspaper, concerning "relationships":
quote:
There seems to be no shortage of commitment-phobic men.
There really
ought to be a word for something so familiar, but I can't find one. Perhaps the ladies should have first shot at coining a suitable term?
August 14, 2002, 16:20
wildflowerchildrichardgereophobiaK
August 14, 2002, 16:21
wildflowerchildi would like to know why a letter or symbol appears at the end of every one of my posts. i'm not doing it.
August 14, 2002, 17:09
Morganquote:
i would like to know why a letter or symbol appears at the end of every one of my posts. i'm not doing it.
I thought it was a signature! Something for our unique wild.
August 14, 2002, 17:16
Sarahwildflowerchild, I am looking into it for you.
August 15, 2002, 07:13
<Asa Lovejoy>Phalacrophobia--Fear of becoming bald
(Not to worry, Asa...I loves ya anyway!
____________________________________
"I'm happy to know you're not phallophobic, Asa said, stiffly."
August 15, 2002, 18:30
Morganquote:
"I'm happy to know you're not phallophobic, Asa said, stiffly."
Other things, I do not have:
Aphenphosmphobia--Fear of being touched.
Arrhenphobia--Fear of men.
Heterophobia--Fear of the opposite sex.
Medorthophobia--Fear of an erect penis.
Oneirogmophobia--Fear of wet dreams.
Philemaphobia--Fear of kissing.
(Ummm...to name a few
)
August 15, 2002, 19:12
wildflowerchildwhat have we here? arnie, you got your ears on?¨
∞
September 02, 2002, 10:02
Hic et ubiqueInteresting pair of meanings for
ergasiophobia:1. fear of or aversion to work.
2. a surgeon's fear of operating in spite of demonstrable need.
September 15, 2002, 13:00
KallehHow did we miss this last Friday?
Paraskavedekatriaphobia: Fear of Friday the 13th.
It was originally posted by...none other than
ARNIE!
Then, akin to our
Akimbo thread, here is:
thixophobia - The fear of touching or being touched
September 15, 2002, 22:57
arnieOn another board where I'm a member someone started a thread and named it
Triskadekaphobia. I pointed out that was simply fear of the number 13, and the word she really wanted was
Paraskavedekatriaphobia.
September 16, 2002, 17:13
shufitzAs it happens, I office on the 13th floor of a downtown building.
It used to be quite common for tall building to skip "13" in the numbering of their floors, going directly from 12 to 14. Though I haven't though about it, it strikes me that I rarely see skipping like that nowadays. Are others often enough in tall buildings to comment on whether this is common?
September 16, 2002, 18:27
tinmanquote:
Originally posted by shufitz:
As it happens, I office on the 13th floor of a downtown building.
Office? When did "office" become a verb?
Tinman
September 16, 2002, 20:05
KallehGood one, Tinman! Did we finally catch Shufitz in a mistake?
Now for arnie.... He will be hard, what with his
Triskadekaphobias and his
Paraskavedekatriaphobias!
(Am I going to get into trouble with the apostrophe boards with the placement of my apostrophes????) [edited with the apostophes removed]
[This message was edited by Kalleh on Tue Sep 17th, 2002 at 7:39.]
September 16, 2002, 20:14
MorganAre we verbing nouns or nouning verbs now?
And I leave for a day or two and Schufitz made a mistake!
Oh Dear! What is this board coming to?
September 16, 2002, 20:11
arniequote:
Triskadekaphobia's and his Paraskavedekatriaphobia's!
(Am I going to get into trouble with the apostrophe boards with the placement of my apostrophes????)
Aarrgh!
No apostrophes there, please!
September 16, 2002, 20:21
MorganOk..this is strange! At least on my screen, looking at the times, I posted after Arnie, yet my posts appear before his. And this has happened twice in the last five minutes!
September 17, 2002, 07:36
KallehMorgan, that happened to me last night in the rainbow thread. I thought we must have been posting at the same time.
Okay, arnie, I have edited the post. As soon as I posted, I realized I was probably wrong, thus the parenthetical comment. Is there ever a time that using plural dictates the use of apostrophes? I thought so, but I cannot remember the rule.
One of these days, arnie, just wait, I will catch you in an error..... I thought I had you with 3 sheets to the wind, but, lo and behold, you were right. According to my source, most people think the sheets mean sails, but you didn't even make that mistake!
September 17, 2002, 08:35
arnieThere is quite a lot of argument about this. About the only occasion when it is permissible IMO to use "'s" to indicate a plural is when you are using numbers or single letters. For example: "Mind your P's and Q's" or "He counted to one hundred in 10's." Many people feel that even this limited use is abhorrent.
Some people think it is OK to use it when using acronyms or initials, such as "CD's", "TV's", and so on. I disagee.
quote:
most people think the sheets mean sails
I knew that sailing holiday on the Norfolk Broads when I was 13 would come in handy!
September 17, 2002, 10:45
KallehIn other words, when using apostrophes, be a minimalist?
quote:
I knew that sailing holiday on the Norfolk Broads when I was 13 would come in handy!
Yes, damn!
September 17, 2002, 11:09
arniequote:
In other words, when using apostrophes, be a minimalist?
Well, there are two main uses for the apostrophe. They should be used then, but not sprayed around. The two uses are to show possession: "This is John's car", "That house is the Jones'"; and to indicate that a letter or letters have been left out: "It's my car" (for "it
is my car" or "I can't drive" (for I can
not drive".
The Apostrophe Protection Society has the rules set out clearly on their home page.
September 18, 2002, 22:09
KallehI do appreciate that bit of information because I realize that I use them far too much in my writing. I agree with you that they are sprayed around. In fact, until this discussion, I thought that I was a minimalist when using apostrophes, as compared to others. Thanks!
September 19, 2002, 13:57
Richard EnglishThis has been discussed at great length on the FOTA board and the usual bugbear is the apostrophe's possible use in the plurals of acronyms and single-letter words.
The consensus seems to be that it is in order to use an apostrophe for plurals where its omission would allow confusion. For example, the phrase, "...this is about U's..." needs the apostrophe to show that it is the plural of U that we are speaking of. Without the apostrophe the word could be the pronoun or the country.
To be fair, though, there are few such occasions and the use of apostophes in normal plural should be eschewed.
Richard English
September 21, 2002, 00:05
KallehI have been at a conference this week with internationally renowned speakers. Now that I am more attuned to apostrophes, I notice that in the powerpoint presentations, every single presenter uses apostrophes with acronyms. For example, today they were discussing "DRG's"(sic).
September 21, 2002, 11:25
Richard EnglishCommon, but usually incorrect and permissable only when needed to avoid ambiguity as in my "U's; US; u's; us" example.
Richard English
September 21, 2002, 22:47
buckeyeteacherthe correct usage of apostrophe's is whenever you happen to feel the need to contr'ct a word such as "I ain't never goin' to try that ag'in" th's belies the common usage of aphostrophe's which is as a possesive of the subject noun. this should n'v'r be done in polite society. for example, the common usage would be to say "that's jim's ferrari" when the correct usage would be to say, "that ferrari is used by jim but belongs to the bank" I hope this clears the matt'r up
September 21, 2002, 23:01
KallehOh Oh! The Apostrophe Board people are going to get you!
September 22, 2002, 09:15
<Asa Lovejoy>WOW, buckeye, you've got apostrophes up the uh... umm... colon.