Deanna is not so thrilled about getting on airplanes.  In fact, that may be the understatement of the century.  Bottom line is that I don’t like being off the ground.  We have legs, the earth, and a good dose of gravity for a good reason.  Anyhow, this morning, I put my son on an airplane for a head-start to visit Grandma.  And I was quite proud of the fact that he wasn’t afraid at all… in my mind that means I haven’t passed on my ridiculous plane phobia to him (which, incidentally, I deal with using pharmaceutical intervention).  One time I was on a plane and I happened to sit next to an off-duty pilot.  I was not at that moment pharmaceutically inclined (I think I had an interview when I arrived - something that I didn’t want to be a drooling idiot for) and thus I was able to comprehend his total disbelief that I was actually really scared.  He thought it was really funny.  I, of course, was just focused on breathing.  Most of us are scared of some things.  Some of us have actual, serious phobias.  But get a load of the following list…

Aerophobia- Fear of drafts, air swallowing, or airborne noxious substances. (Having two boy children who howl when they fart may be part of the reason I wish more people in my house had this one.)

Agateophobia- Fear of insanity. (yup)

Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens. (?)

Alliumphobia- Fear of garlic. (never.)

Androphobia- Fear of men. (nope.)

Barophobia- Fear of gravity. (Just its effect on certain body parts.)

Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells. (okay.)

Cacophobia- Fear of ugliness. (Is there a universal standard?  Okay…  this dog, maybe.)

Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia- Fear of money. (Somebody please explain…)

Cibophobia- Fear of food. (I only wish.)

Coulrophobia- Fear of clowns. (I don’t love clowns.  But if one got too close I’d sick a mime after him.)

Coprastasophobia- Fear of constipation. (I’ve been pregnant.  Given birth. I get this one.)

Diplophobia- Fear of double vision. (I wouldn’t want to be in a perpetual state of double-vision. But phobic?)

Euphobia- Fear of hearing good news (????)

Genuphobia- Fear of knees.  (Guinness Book of World Record fingernails, maybe.  But knees?)

Gerascophobia- Fear of growing old.  (Okay…  Good thing there’s botox!)

Hellenologophobia- Fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology. (You mean terms like Hellenologophobia?)
Helminthophobia- Fear of being infested with worms. (Alright.)

Kyphophobia- Fear of stooping. (I’m too short.  I admire people who have the body length to be ABLE to stoop.)

Leukophobia- Fear of the color white. (Very bad for people living up north.)

Metrophobia- Fear or hatred of poetry. (I may have met some students who might have this.)

Nudophobia- Fear of nudity. (Like your own nudity?  Or like if you were married to Phyllis Diller?)

Ombrophobia- Fear of rain or of being rained on. (?)
Ommetaphobia or Ommatophobia- Fear of eyes. (Again, I’m laughing my head off.)

Peladophobia- Fear of bald people. (Step back.  This isn’t just not liking the fact that you  might go bald.  This is a fear of BALD PEOPLE.)

Proctophobia- Fear of rectums. (Too bad you’d be really uncomfortable without one.)

Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public. (Like graffiti?  Or signing cheques?)

Symmetrophobia- Fear of symmetry. (The ugly dog might get valuable here.)
Syngenesophobia- Fear of relatives. (hmmm)

Tyrannophobia- Fear of tyrants. (I just liked this one because it’s fun to say.)

Vestiphobia- Fear of clothing. (Easy to remedy.  Unless, of course, you live with a Nudophobe.)

Zemmiphobia- Fear of the great mole rat. (Well, seriously.  Who isn’t.)

For more phobias (I mean a gigantic phobia list), go to:  http://www.phobialist.com/index.html#Top

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 7:31 am. You can leave a comment below.