21 unusual phobias
It’s been said that in English, there is a word for everything.
Terms exist to describe groups of animals and other words, and there are even words formed by the combination of two separate words.
Having recently unearthed a new phobia—“aerophobia,” or fear of air travel—I’ve taken an interest in words that describe and pinpoint fears. How many of these phobias do you recognize? (Terms from Oxford Dictionaries, Phobialist.com and Fearof.net.)
1. Asthenophobia: fear of weakness
2. Astrapophobia: fear of lightning
3. Ataxaphobia: fear of disorder or untidiness
4. Atelophobia: fear of imperfection
5. Atychiphobia: fear of failure
6. Automatonophobia: fear of ventriloquist dummies
7. Coulrophobia: fear of clowns
8. Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers
9. Eosophobia: fear of the dawn
10. Katagelophobia: fear of ridicule
11. Linonophobia: fear of string
12. Lutraphobia: fear of otters
13. Phalacrophobia: fear of going bald
14. Pinaciphobia: fear of lists
15. Pogonophobia: fear of beards
16. Politicophobia: fear of politics
17. Pteronophobia: fear of feathers
18. Scriptophobia: fear of writing in public
19. Soceraphobia: fear of parents-in-law
20. Thassophobia: fear of idleness
21. Tyrannophobia: fear of tyrants
What terms would you add to the list, PR Daily readers?
This post was first published on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
