Tonight, when I was reading about fears, I saw this word: Kakorrhaphiophobia, so I decided to play google search.
The face of fear
I love googling weird things. I’ll type two unrelated words in the search bar and hit go, just to see what comes up.
Much to my surprise and delight, not only did the definition of Kakorrhaphiophobia come up, but a whole long list of the weirdest fears I’ve ever heard of continued down the page!
So here are a few of the ones I saw on that page.
Wait until you read what Gynophobia is!
(You can go to each website to look for more info — I just thought these were the funnest words in the long, long list on google, and grabbed their brief descriptions to share.)
1. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
“Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.This condition is considered a social phobia.”
Look it up here: verywellhealth.com
(I wonder if it’s a fear of seeing long words, or hearing them…)
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2. What word takes 3 hours to say?
Not a fear, but still fun: “Isoleucine is the chemical name for the protein of “titin” also known as “connectin.”
The largest known protein, it consists of 26,926 amino acids, and is made up of 189,819 letters and can take about three hours to pronounce.”
Look it up here: beelinguapp.com
(You could get pretty hungry just waiting for that to end…)
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3. The #1 rarest phobia is Arachibutyrophobia
“Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.”
Look it up here: therecoveryvillage.com
(Sorry Mom, no easy PB&Js for your kid’s lunch box…)
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4. Fear of long words
“The longest word in English is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which is the name of a lung disease. It is considered a social phobia.”
Look it up here: engineeringnews.co.za
(I wonder — is the fear a fear of the word itself? Or the illness?)
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5. Athazagoraphobia
“Fear of being forgotten. Symptoms of athazagoraphobia may include: Morbid fear and anxiety when a person is ignored or forgotten, or perceive that they could be forgotten.
Intense apprehension and anxiety just thinking about being forgotten. Intense anxiety that is out of proportion to the actual risk of being forgotten.”
Look it up here: verywellhealth.com
(I wonder if that’s what makes some people act out in crazy ways — just so people would remember them…)
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6. Spectrophobia
“Fear of mirrors — the underlying fear may be exacerbated by genetic, environmental, and/or traumatic experiences.
Those with spectrophobia may have a fear of ghosts, reflections, death, and/or criticism.”
Look it up here: verywellmind.com
(Not going to find any selfie-takers in this crowd…)
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7. Atelophobia
“Extreme focus on fear. People with atelophobia may exhibit an inability to focus on anything apart from their fear.
They may exhibit emotional detachment from others, low self-esteem, constant reassurance seeking, extreme disappointment over negligible mistakes, a pessimistic view of life….”
Look it up here: osmosis.org
(What was it Churchill said about fear?)
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8. Gynophobia
“Fear of women. Gynophobia symptoms include intense anxiety when being exposed to a woman, and purposefully avoiding situations where the person may see or interact with a woman.
In children, this can look like tantrums, crying, or clinging to their male caregiver.”
Look it up here: choosingtherapy.com
(Yeah, you better choose therapy! Nothing like being afraid of half the people in the world!)
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9. Kakorrhaphiophobia
“Persistent, all-consuming fear of failure. An abnormal, persistent, irrational fear of failure. In clinical cases, it’s debilitating: the fear of even the most subtle failure or defeat is so intense that it restricts a person from doing anything at all.”
Look it up here: joshkaufman.net
(Goes way beyond analysis paralysis…)
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10. Cherophobia
“Cherophobia: a phobia or an irrational aversion to being happy.
The term comes from the Greek word “chero,” which means “to rejoice.”
When a person experiences cherophobia, they’re often afraid to participate in activities that many would characterize as fun, or of being happy.”
Look it up here: healthline.com
(Yeah, better not be happy in case someone takes it away, or it turns into disappointment…)
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Thanks for reading my silly list! I hope you enjoyed it.
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Quoted text: © their noted websites.
My text: © Angela Treat Lyon 2023
Image: The Face of Fear, © Angela Treat Lyon 2023
Conquer your fears: get my free ebook, Change Your Mind with EFT, and discover how to tap fear, depression, pain, anxiety into creative juice: EFTBooks.com