I know for those that have them, these are no laughing matter, so this post should be read in the spirit in which it is intended…. not as a thing that is funny, but simply as a commentary on phobias.
The now regular thing the entire UK has with snow, made me wonder what the fear of snow is called. For the record, its Chionophobia.
There are some other phobias that I think may play themselves out in odd ways. Cathisophobia is the fear of sitting. Geniophobia is the fear of chins.
Gnosiophobia is the fear of knowledge (!) and Neophobia which is the fear of anything new. Presumably sufferers of these phobia went into meltdown when they learned these new words?
Best of all, the fear of long words is, delightfully, called Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. Don’t believe me? Here is the Wikipedia entry. Although for obvious reasons, sufferers of Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia should also avoid developing a fear of Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, the fear of the number 666.
Naturally this made me wonder if there is a fear of phobias. Indeed there is, perhaps slightly predictably called phobophobia, the fear of developing a phobia.
Crazy stuff. There is a helpful website that will also tell you the name of a fear of string, the fear of definite plans and the fear of relatives…
By the way, and partly as an interesting aside, I strongly suggest that sufferers of Acrophobia do not watch the following video, especially if they also have Basophobia (use the phobia list people, use the phobia list).
Wow.