www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall What are your phobias?

I thought I would post a fun (or not so fun--as the case may be) thread on phobias. What are yours?

Mine are:

1. Fear of high edges..not so much heights as edges of heights...as in: I can be in a tall building and even look out of the window, but I cannot lean on or even go near the balcony rail of a high building. I cannot go near the edge of a cliff and look down, but I can look into the distance. You should see me as a passenger (huddled towards the middle of the car in prayer and fear) when winding up narrow mountain roads of Greece or the Amalfi Coast of Italy! One does not know how scary they are...think of the 1950's movie w/Grace Kelly and Cary Grant : 'To Catch a Thief' which was filmed in Monaco. I have not yet had the 'pleasure' of traveling on those roads, however!!

2. Fear of the thought of extreme depths of water. I get this weird feeling looking at a ship in drydock, for instance, because it makes me realize the depth which it goes down to in the water.
Also, I have a great phobia when looking into empty swimming pools. For me, it is the scariest sight. I can swim in them, I just don't want to see them without water.

Wierd...huh?!?

Alice,

We play trivia at work as a way to make collecting money for the "sunshine fund" (b'day gifts, hospital flowers, etc) more interesting. There's a different theme each week - myself and another guy alternate weeks writing the questions. We post a question a night, first correct answer drawn wins a $1 lottery ticket; no correct answers, first random draw wins.

My theme this week happens to be phobias. Yours are rather fascinating b/c they don't fall into any of the common types.

Neil

Mine aren't interesting

I have a 'thing' about cats - and I can date it from when I was away on holiday and a cat [ seemed to be HUGE and very very furry ] jumed on my lap as I was eating dinner one night - it scared me so much I jumped and the chair tipped over backwards . Since that day cats and I don't really get on.

My other one is claustrophobia - not really severe and usually controllable but I do tend to panic . Flying is not nice - but I can manage - I have to be able to see the plane door . An RC Confessional - - no chance of that add dark to confined space - that on is not controllable This one came about after our trailer tent went on fire at 2 am one morning , with us in it , up a mountain in Portugal.

Dear Neil,

Actually my first fear is 'acrophobia'..the strange thing is that 'acro' actually means 'edge' in Greek, and not necessarily height.



As for the phobia of empty swimming pools, there isn't yet a word, but I can make one up!

How is adiopiscinophobia! (adio: Greek for empty, piscine: Frech for swimming pool, and phobia: fear)


Regards,
Alice

Dear Anhelyna:



OH DEAR!!!

Regards,
Alice

Alice;

From the way you describe them, we have exactly the same
phobias, so if they're weird, we're weird together.

Edmac

Ok...

1. Sharks
2. Tornados
3. Snakes (particularly water moccasins)
4. Ledges

FDD

Acrophobia: I am terrified of open heights, but I have to stand as close to the edge as possible.

Claustrophobia: If no one else is there, I'll leave the stall door open in a public restroom.

I have had nightmares of deep water. In one of them I was swimming in an Olympic sized pool and it got deeper and deeper. And then there were shark shadows at the bottom.

I don't know if it is a phobia, but the hair on the back of my neck stands when I think of it.

There was an Olympic sized pool where I used to live. When I was seven to twelve I would jump off its three-story diving platform. I haven't jumped from that height in some time, but I fear the depth more than the height.

I've been around too many tornados to fear them. If it hits me on the road or in the house unprepared there's little I can do about it but hunker down. (But deep water...that I can avoid.)

Terry

Deep water is scary. I think about getting tied to something heavy and being thrown from boat in the middle of the ocean.

I also am scared of being buried alive.

I also am scared of Yellowstone Supervolcano exploding..haha.

Being buried alive or trapped in a submarine with no way out would definitely be two that come to mind.

On the lighter side, one verse antiphons and 45 minute liturgies as well

Monomakh

Hah! LOL. I am afraid of heights so I avoid high places. I am also afraid of water but I think that's because I don't swim. However, I have plenty of Baptist friends and they know water quite well. They look after me around the wet stuff.

Without trying to be a nitpicker, I'd say most of the fears expressed here are probably shared by the average person. Personally I have very few phobias, but if you want to talk worries and superstitions I've got quite a few. For instance, I get very unsettled by a phone ringing before or after business hours

Swamps, wetlands, deep dark ocean water I can't see into.

SNAKES! I had a 6 1/2 foot python crawl into my house one day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hm,

I absolutely cannot stand the sound of heartbeats.

It's something that's always bothered me a little, but has progressed into almost a phobia in the past few years.

I think it's because I get to thinking how hard the heart works, non-stop, all day every day, right on cue...and that one's entire life depends on this regularity, and how since it's working so hard it seems so likely that it'll just give up at any moment.

Anyway, I don't much like the feeling of my own heartbeat either, but ironically it doesn't bother me as much if I've just done an athletic activity. But when I feel/hear it without having done something athletic, or if I feel or hear someone else's, I have to control myself from totally losing it!

Strange, I know...

Alice, since you are one of our resident Greek speakers, what would you call a "phobia of heartbeats" in Greek? I've never successfully found a word for it.

Alexis