Are you afraid of the...?

As some of you know, my mom and sister came down for Christmas. We took a day trip to DC, and Karalyn wanted to go off on her own, but we had to drop her at the metro station because she insisted we not leave her alone. I asked her why, and her response made me almost crash the car I was laughing so hard. “Because I’m afraid of hobos.” More specifically, she was afraid they were going to attack her and steal all her change. Hobophobia. I’d think this was weirder, but they based an entire South Park episode about the fear of the homeless. But, of course, her phobia gave me a great idea for a blog.

A phobia is a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it. And I think we all have at least one. My grandmother is terrified of snakes. And not just snakes themselves, but even pictures of them. And a friend of mine is afraid of falling and scraping her front teeth. As for me, I have a really strange fear of jellyfish, which is the reason Jere has to always snorkel without me. I’m also terrified of popsicle sticks going near my mouth and people touching my nose.

But what about fears that are just completely off the wall? Well, thanks to our friends at Wikipedia, I was able to locate fears that will make even your strangest phobia seem almost rational!

Nomophobia – fear of being out of mobile phone contact
Anglophobia – fear of the English or English culture
Spectrophobia – fear of mirrors and one’s own reflections
Trichophobia – fear caused of loose hairs on clothing or elsewhere
Phonophobia – fear of swallowing
Anthrophobia – fear of flowers
Decidophobia – fear of making decisions
Anuptaphobia – fear of remaining single
Chionophobia – for my friends in Michigan, fear of snow
Xanthophobia – fear of the color yellow
Geniophobia – fear of chins, not to be confused with Genuphobia – fear of knees
Helminthophobia – fear of being infested with worms

Now, my friends, it’s your turn. I’ve confessed mine. Now you confess yours! What is the strangest thing you fear? What is your weird phobia? Let’s get a real conversation going here!