In years past, if someone was terribly frightened of inanimate objects such as, say, clothespins or welcome mats, they never let on about it. Should it have become common knowledge, the person would have either been the laughing stock of the county or found themselves in a snug-fitting jacket, sitting inside a round room with really soft walls.
Today, it’s just the opposite. It seems that “phobias” have become one of the “in” things to have. In fact, if you’re not afraid of something to the point that you supposedly can’t function, then you’ve obviously got other deep-seated problems.
There are now special names for all the individual phobias and I decided to list a few of the stranger ones. I don’t know if these are “official” phobias, but if they are, there are some folks out there that are, no offense, downright weird.
• vestiphobia: fear of clothing
• arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
• chrematophobia: fear of money
• bibliophobia: fear of books
• kathisophobia: fear of sitting down
• soceraphobia: fear of parents-in-law
• homilophobia: fear of sermons
• alliumphobia: fear of garlic
• lachanophobia: fear of vegetables
• trichopathophobia, trichophobia, chaetophobia or hypertrichophobia: fear of hair
• dextrophobia: fear of objects at the right side of the body
• chromatophobia: fear of colors
• barophobia: fear of gravity
• erythrophobia or erytophobia: fear of red lights, blushing or the color red
• genuphobia: fear of knees
• geumaphobia or geumophobia: fear of taste
• koinoniphobia: fear of rooms
• phronemophobia: fear of thinking
• pentheraphobia: fear of mother-in-law
• pantophobia: fear of everything
• cnidophobia: fear or strings
• autophobia: fear of gold
• anthrophobia or anthophobia: fear of flowers
• arithmophobia: fear of numbers
• hypegiaphobia or hypengyophobia: fear of responsiblity
• logizomechanophobia: fear of computers
• octophobia: fear of the figure 8
• phobophobia: fear of phobias
