Friday, October 30, 2009

Phobias spelled Out

Okay, the day before Halloween and I just couldn't resist. This started at the Writers conference as a way to learn new words. If I heard a word I didn't know I wrote it down in the back of my notebook and looked it up later. I found out that a misogynist was a hater of women and that gravitas was seriousness of sobriety. But my favorite new word is Peoria(sp?) the fear of having too many mashed potatoes! I have been looking for a conformation that this word exists but no such luck. However, in my search I have found some interesting phobias and some down right unbelievable phobias.

Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia---the fear of long words

Logophobia---the fear of words (no worries for me there)

Mythophobia---the fear of stories or myths(hope there aren't too many of these people around)

Omphalophobia---fear of belly buttons

Papaphobia---fear of the pope

Zemmiphobia---fear of the great mole rat

And then there is my personal favorite, Dutchphobia---fear of the Dutch

So while I cannot confirm fear of too many mashed potatoes, there are quiet a few other words, and phobias,out there to be discovered. If you'd like to share some on the comments I would like to see what other people have got on their own lists of new words.

No comments: