I know that it’s probably pretty easy to give a formal name to phobias. Some of them look completely made up, but I’m sure there’s a committee somewhere that reviews all the new phobia name requests. “Fear of damp sponges. Ah, I’m going to have to pass on that one.
But we do have lutraphobia, which is fear of ottors, and linonophobia, a fear of string. The poor folks with Optophobiaor the fear of opening your eyes, must have a really hard time in the morning.
I should not be making fun of people who have melanophobia, or fear of the color black, because I have a couple of phobias myself. And I’m talking about real phobias, that affect my ability to function on some level, on an ongoing basis. Three of them are related.
I see the following as being tied together, especially the first two.
Lilapsophobia – fear of tornado or hurricanes (the tornado part – I’m okay with hurricanes for the most part)
Astraphobia – fear of thunder and lightning
Thanatophobia – Fear of death/dying
My other big ones are Scelerophibia – Fear of burglars. This one can keep me awake at night. You’d think I’d just buy an alarm system and be done with it, wouldn’t you? And tied to the lightning and thunder is Ligyrophobia, fear of loud noises. When I was in college, I would absolutely freak out when I knew they’d be testing the fire alarms in the middle of the night. I’d sleep in my clothes. Not pretty, huh?
So is that admitting too much to you guys?
Without meaning to be critical, phobias are “irrational fears.” If you’re in the middle of a thunderstorm on the fifth hole, I’d be afraid of lightning. That’s not a phobia. So, maybe you’re just plain old normal. Just make sure you wear the ruby slippers.
Hey, my oldest son has the “Phobia a day” calendar this year, so I get entertained with delightful and obscure new phobias nearly every day.
He loves Otters, but is terrified of spiders. Also not a fan of thunder and lightning even when safe in his own home. Definitely irrational fear on both counts.
Jody,
GET an alarm! I absolutely could not sleep at night without mine. Too many strange weird house noises would have me popping up every 10 minutes, thinking “what’s that?”
As far as being scared of hurricanes, so am I. I don’t consider that a phobia. That’s just normal! I’ve been thru enough of them to know you *should* be scared!
Well you should not feel too bad, look at the whole list on: http://www.phobialist.com/reverse.html
Here’s a tongue twister: Fear of 666, – Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia
Lucky you only have a few phobias. I think it’s normal for people to have a few phobia, makes us all different from each other. Sure is enough of them to go around.
Hope it’s not a soggy weekend.. CU
Jerry
Does having an official name for your phobia make it feel better and is there a phobia for fear of phobias?
Phobophobia. Really.