Truth, Justice, and All-American Allergen-Free Apple Pie

A recent conversation spurred me to consult a website I’ve had saved as a favorite for years, The Phobia List: http://phobialist.com/.

Anxieties and phobias are often rooted in trauma, so some of these issues are very real to people. They don’t have to make sense to the outside world; what matters is how they make someone feel.

Agoraphobia in particular is a common fear in our population. Variants of it include fear of crowds, leaving a safe place, and being in wide open spaces. This can be debilitating to some people and put severe limits on their lives.

There are phobias on the list, though, that can make you say “hmm.” I wonder how some of these became widespread enough that they got names…

Soceraphobia- Fear of parents-in-law

Oenophobia- Fear of wines

Phobophobia- Fear of phobias

Pupaphobia – Fear of puppets

Walloonphobia- Fear of the Walloons

Barophobia- Fear of gravity

Eosophobia- Fear of dawn or daylight (I could see this as a major problem among vampires)

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- Fear of long words (definitely not me!)

Metrophobia- Fear or hatred of poetry (yeah, I guess if your parents read you mid-20th century confessional poetry at bedtime while wearing hooded velvet robes)

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All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears– of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, or speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words “Some Assembly Required”. -Dave Barry

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