Afraid of things

arseagon

Ok so a mate of mine was proud of himself for hoovering up a spider all on his own. He's terrified of them and his pride dropped significantly when we told him the spider most likely survived the hoovering and is now making spider babies in his hoover who are all instructed to kill him in his sleep. All Irish spiders are harmless though so why the irrational fear? And my real question is what Phobias do other people here have and why?

hairyfairy00

All spiders are evil.....evil i tell ya, i don't care that irish ones are harmless i'll take out the hoover every time. I also have a phobia of clowns and those weird street performers e.g mime artists,i actually turn around and walk in the opposite direction if i see one of those guys. There's just something about them, they're all creepy lookin feckers.

Ruu_Old

Ah was just telling someone this before. When I was about 6, I left the bedroom window open and night so when I woke up the room was COVERED in daddy long legs.

I hate them but got my revenge a few hours later when I caught one, pulled off its wings and poured motor oil over it (it was the nearest thing to hand).:D
I don't know just the way they come flying right at your face *buuzzzzzz*, eeeugghhh! *shivers*

hairyfairy00

Forgot about daddy long legs, my worst nightmare....a clown covered in spiders with daddy long legs buzzin' around him *shudder*

randylonghorn

zippy28 wrote:

All Irish spiders are harmless though so why the irrational fear?

The whole point about phobias though is that they are irrational ... arachnophobia is quite common, and the fact that Irish spiders are harmless is completely irrelevant to someone who suffers from it.

zippy28 wrote:

And my real question is what Phobias do other people here have and why?

I seem to have escaped fairly much without any significant ones ... not that I'm fearless or anything, just don't have much in the line of phobias.

I don't much like spiders or creepy-crawlies generally, but I'm not frightened of them ... or not the home-grown variety anyway, have seen a few bruisers abroad I didn't much like the look of.

The nearest would probably be with heights, and in a fairly limited way ... I will happily hillwalk, look over the edge of cliffs, etc. and I love abseiling. When it comes to ladders and scaffolding and such, though, I am quite nervous. I put it down to the fact that my father usually had two or three ladders lying around the house, and they would invariably wobble, have loose or missing rungs, and be tied together with string. I suspect I probably got a few scares on them when I was a kid which I don't actually remember now, but which have left their mark sub-consciously ... so maybe not totally irrational after all!

bolliwoodi

my phobias include.....

butterflies
aliens
ghosts
clowns
rollercoasters
puppets
pholystyorm

now i know the butterflies 1 is odd but i lose my life if they are near me

I know a girl whos terrified of toilet roll holders!

Holsten

Any type of incect at all, can't stand them.

enda1

bolliwoodi wrote:

my phobias include.....

butterflies
aliens
ghosts
clowns
rollercoasters
puppets
pholystyorm

now i know the butterflies 1 is odd but i lose my life if they are near me

I know a girl whos terrified of toilet roll holders!

What is pholystyorm? You mean polystyrene or something like that?? I always find arachnophobia quite funny in people. Can't understand it myself but seeing a fully grown man break out in sweat over an ickle spidey is quite funny!!

bolliwoodi

enda1 wrote:

What is pholystyorm? You mean polystyrene or something like that??

u know the stuff that cums in the box with a tv- the white stuff - kids scrape it off walls to make fake snow

that stuff

Tar.Aldarion

Polystyrene


I don't know why people here have a fear of spiders, natural i guess, or maybe they are wimpy.
I like ot let them crawl on my hand in front of people.

Edit: Oh, and no phiobias.

tallus

Heights and rats.

Binomate

bolliwoodi wrote:

my phobias include.....

butterflies
aliens
ghosts
clowns
rollercoasters
puppets
pholystyorm

now i know the butterflies 1 is odd but i lose my life if they are near me

I know a girl whos terrified of toilet roll holders!

I know a girl who is terrified of moths and butterflies.

Tar.Aldarion

I have two friends who are afriad of butterflies but not moths.

DarkJager

Polystyrene??? What happens when you buy electrical items?

humbert

I get very very edgy around flying stinging insects. They can move faster than I can react so I'm constantly afraid that they'll make a crazed bombing run toward my face.

Crucifix

I would say clowns, but there's nothing irrational about fearing clowns. It's a natural reaction; a survival instinct.

The best phobia I heard of was aphobophobia, the fear of not being afraid. That one would be a real hassle.

stovelid

Moths.

Something about the way they are made, the big brown flaky ones and they way they bump into things.

rusalka

I have a fear of radiation which I think probably stems from spending a long time in hospital as a young child, and having loads of x-rays. I used to be petrified lying on the table alone in the dark.

To this day, I'm completely paranoid about radiation. I hate the words like "geiger counter" or "gamma" or "caesium" or "radioisotope". I hate seeing nuclear reactors on tv. I'm even freaked if I see the radiation hazard symbol - it all looks so sinister to me. I think it's because I can't see it.

My other big fear is of paralysis - just of being completely frozen immobile. And wanting to scream, but not being able to.....

Mr Mojo

Ruu wrote:

Ah was just telling someone this before. When I was about 6, I left the bedroom window open and night so when I woke up the room was COVERED in daddy long legs.

I hate them but got my revenge a few hours later when I caught one, pulled off its wings and poured motor oil over it (it was the nearest thing to hand).:D
I don't know just the way they come flying right at your face *buuzzzzzz*, eeeugghhh! *shivers*

Same as Ruu, daddy long legs... yuk! they're just too unpredicable in flight, what direction are they going?? , they don't even know themselves. The Girlfriend fears Balloons

Shiva

I'm terrified of my ex-wife.

Does that count as a phobia ?

Tar.Aldarion

No, it's quite a rational response from my experience.

6th

Shiva wrote:

I'm terrified of my ex-wife.

Does that count as a phobia ?

Yes, I've met her .... not really.

Anyway for me its WASPS!!! I freak out like a bitch if I see one.

LovelyTom

I'm terrified of sharks... well only when I'm in foreign countries but I can't even go swimming on a beach just in case there might be a shark swimming about... even if theres a net...

humanji

I'm terrified of large bodies of water. I can't go near the window in a plane, just in case I look out. It's the fact that we don't belong in there and that there are so many nasty things in it that bothers me. Which will be awkward when I head off to the Galapagos Islands in a few weeks

And then there's clowns too. Strange how many people are afraid of them. I think most associate it with the film "It", but for me it was a Gary Larson "Far Side" comic that had a picture of a clown picking out a gun in a gunshop with the caption "Laugh at me, will they?" It just made me realise that there's no way someone can be laughed at their whole life and not go crazy.

Chunks

A guy I played rugby with was terrified of bananas.

Needless to say we took it upon ourselves to cure him of his phobia...... not much luck with it though. Throwing them at him in surprise attacks and filling his gearbag with them just didn't seem to do any good apart from increase his reaction time and his shrill screams :rolleyes:

arseagon

randylonghorn wrote:

I put it down to the fact that my father usually had two or three ladders lying around the house, and they would invariably wobble, have loose or missing rungs, and be tied together with string. I suspect I probably got a few scares on them when I was a kid which I don't actually remember now, but which have left their mark sub-consciously ... so maybe not totally irrational after all!

Yes I have the same fear of ladders. It doesn't matter how safe they are my knees still knock when i'm on one. I'd always have considered it a very rational fear though because no matter how good the ladder is you can still fall off. Doesn't help that a lot of my work day is spent on one of them I can still remember my dads wooden ladder with my brother bouncing on the 2nd rung to make it shake even more.

MikeHoncho

Sponges. I cant stand them they make my skin crawl. Just thinking about it right now is horrible.

monkeyfudge

Monkeys.

But from that fear comes great respect.

Actually Sagittarius A* scares me a good deal... That's the super-massive blackhole at the centre of The Milky Way.

jellie

im TERRIFIED of bangers - the explosive halloween things, not sausages :P

Got 1 thrown at me when i was a kid, and now any time i see a group of teenagers around at halloween i am convinced theyre gonna throw 1 at me. i have this image of 1 getting caught in my hood and my head getting blown off..

Other stuff that scares me a little but not quite to the same extent: spiders, mice, rats, moths (HATE them), bats

r3nu4l

I don't have any phobias although I am now more cautious around spiders since I discovered that thanks to milder winters there are now poisonous spiders bredding and over-wintering in the East of England (where I live).

I'm not afraid of them, I'm just not so glib about picking them up with my bare hands anymore! I just look carefully now to identify the species before I go near it.

A friend of mine at home is afraid of puppets and childs dolls, he could never watch zig and zag or thunderbirds as a kid, or play with Action man. Even today he gets freaked out in toy shops because of all the dolls staring at him from the shelves!

baztard

I used to eat spiders as a dare and for a little bit of drinking money back in my college days. Mmm crispy on the outside, smooth in the middle

Jonesy3110

This one is really bizarre, and slightly embarassing, but here it is:

I used to have a fear of tea-spoons that was prompted by a nightmare I had of my broken video player getting angry with me then (using the little lights on the front) made all the tea-spoons in my house attack me.

Scary ****, I know. I got over it, I can now use teaspoons without fear.

I used to eat spiders as a dare and for a little bit of drinking money back in my college days. Mmm crispy on the outside, smooth in the middle

Prostitution :P

angelbaby

im terrified of slugs!!!!
i dont know why cos i know they cant exactly move very fast but they scare the sh*te out of me!! i nearly had complete heart failure one night when i woke up to find one on my face!!!:eek: have no idea how it got there but im convinced it was attempting to eat me!!
The weird thing is that snails dont bother me at all..its just the slugs!!!!

Duff

bolliwoodi wrote:

my phobias include.....

butterflies
aliens
ghosts
clowns
rollercoasters
puppets
pholystyorm

now i know the butterflies 1 is odd but i lose my life if they are near me

I know a girl whos terrified of toilet roll holders!

How do you mean your afraid of aliens? Like the ones in the films or the ''real'' kind with the big heads and big eyes?

Jonesy3110

im terrified of slugs!!!!
i dont know why cos i know they cant exactly move very fast but they scare the sh*te out of me!! i nearly had complete heart failure one night when i woke up to find one on my face!!! have no idea how it got there but im convinced it was attempting to eat me!!
The weird thing is that snails dont bother me at all..its just the slugs!!!!

Puke*

I used to live in a ****ty apartment that was infested with slugs, and the slugs had parasites. I lived there for a year!

cee_jay

I've a serious phobia of snakes - earliest memory is screaming the reptile house in Dublin Zoo and my dad having to carry me outside covering my eyes and spent the next hour trying to get me to calm down.
Can't even look at a picture of one without freaking!
Even the word gives me shivers up and down my spine

30txsbzmcu2k9w

okay ...i cant be the only one,

Im scared of buttons.even typing that gives me the creeps.

Feral Mutant

I'm not arachnaphobic, I'm just afraid of spiders. I have a scorpion hanging over my bed that doesn't bother me at all.

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Polystyrene

*shudder* Hate the stuff

Chunks wrote:

A guy I played rugby with was terrified of bananas.

Needless to say we took it upon ourselves to cure him of his phobia...... not much luck with it though. Throwing them at him in surprise attacks and filling his gearbag with them just didn't seem to do any good apart from increase his reaction time and his shrill screams :rolleyes:

This is perfectly normal, your friend is obviously an atheist.

Crucifix

Crucifix wrote:

The best phobia I heard of was aphobophobia, the fear of not being afraid. That one would be a real hassle.

You've obviously never heard of Arachibutyrophobia

Here's a list of some of the weirder ones:

Algophobia — fear of pain.
Androphobia — fear of males.
Anthropomorphobia — fear or dislike of anthropomorphic traits.
Allodoxaphobia - fear of opinions.
Autophobia — fear of being alone.
Bacillophobia, Bacteriophobia, Microbiophobia — fear of microbes and bacteria.
Bogyphobia - Fear of the Bogeyman.
Cibophobia,Sitophobia — aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa. Clinophobia — fear of going to bed or falling asleep.
Coulrophobia — fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns
Emetophobia — fear of vomiting.
Ergasiophobia, Ergophobia — fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating.
Erotophobia — fear of sexual love or sexual questions.
Erythrophobia — pathological blushing.
Genophobia, Coitophobia — fear of sexual intercourse.
Gymnophobia — fear of nudity.
Heliophobia — fear of sunlight.
Hemophobia, Haemophobia — fear of blood.
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — fear of the number 666.
Hoplophobia — fear of firearms (guns).
Lalophobia, Laliophobia — fear of speaking.
Ligyrophobia — fear of loud noises.
Mysophobia — fear of germs, contamination or dirt.
Necrophobia — fear of death, the dead.
Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia, Kainophobia — fear of newness, novelty.
Nosophobia — fear of contracting a disease
Nyctophobia, Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia — fear of darkness.
Osmophobia, Olfactophobia — fear of smells.
Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Paraskevidekatriaphobia, Friggatriskaidekaphobia — fear of Friday the 13th.
Panphobia — fear of everything or constantly afraid without knowing what is causing it
Pyrophobia — fear of fire.
Radiophobia — fear of radiation or X-rays.
Sociophobia — fear/dislike of society or people in general (see also "sociopath").
Taphophobia — fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave while still alive.
Technophobia — fear of technology (see also Luddite).
Tokophobia — fear of childbirth.
Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia — fear of the number 13.
Trypanophobia, Aichmophobia, Belonephobia, Enetophobia — fear of needles, injections or of pointed objects.

A couple of Boardsies in there methinks!!


Also, on the Gary Larsson point......

Alter-Ego

Wasps and scorpians.

I've never seen a real scorpian but i did see the movie "hook" as a child and the bit where he puts yer man in the box and drops the scorpians in....Why?:(

Earwigs remind me too much of scorpians so i don't like them much.

Overheal

zippy28 wrote:

Ok so a mate of mine was proud of himself for hoovering up a spider all on his own. He's terrified of them and his pride dropped significantly when we told him the spider most likely survived the hoovering and is now making spider babies in his hoover who are all instructed to kill him in his sleep. All Irish spiders are harmless though so why the irrational fear? And my real question is what Phobias do other people here have and why?

LOL

I have issues with heights. Not flying or anything, just heights; as if when I look over an edge some part of me wants to jump off and then the 99.999998% of my brain thinks thats a really bad idea....or the worry that the support will break and I'll fall anyway. My building has a couple catwalks like this that look over a 4-story drop in one case :eek:

Fremen

I know a guy who really doesn't like peas. He's not really afraid of them, but people pretend that he is.
Once, someone froze a pea in an ice cube and put it in his drink. My friends like to hide them in his shoes and stuff as well

"spider babies in his hoover"... would they be the type with the body of a spider but the mind of a baby?

The Bollox

I don't like spiders that much. I get a shock when I first see them, but after that I don't really mind them. if I can see them move I kinda freak out, it just looks... wrong. also if I see one somewhere, look away and look back a minute or so later to find it's gone I freak out and look all over the floor / walls to see where the blighter ended up. I had a few bad experiences with them as a child

Mrs. MacGyver

Snails (absolutely desperatly afraid of them, will panic if i see one!)
Spiders
Emory Boards (used for filing nails, someone always does this on the Cork train home at the weekend and I actually have to excuse myself until they are done,)
Death
Jaffa cakes being discontinued (does that count?)

spoofilyj

I am terreified of sea weed. Only when its below you when your swimming.
I do alot of diving and sea kiaking and am still afraid of the weed as I had a bad experience with a conger eel when I was younger.

A friend of mine is absolutely terrified of brown sauce..... I has to be the most random fear ever...

deisedolly

I'm afraid of crisps! Any crisps except for snax and waffles scare me. The smell, the feel, EURRRGH!!

I'm sure you've guessed I get alot of p*ss taken out of me and crisps thrown at me!
Anyone else the same as me by any chance at all!

NotMe

My brother used to have a fear of chicken when he was young. I think I probably started it. I used to have a great time annoying him over it. When we had chicken for dinner I would get the insides and chase him around the house shouting "chicken liver.... chicken liver!" and he would run off screaming and crying. He got over it eventually but it was years before he started eating chicken again.

Nordie

Snails, slugs, maggots..................shutter even to think of them:eek: :eek: :eek:

Heights terrify me too.

WindSock

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of longwords. How do you explain that one to a therapist?

It's a terrifying world out there.

bolliwoodi

SaxoDuff wrote:

How do you mean your afraid of aliens? Like the ones in the films or the ''real'' kind with the big heads and big eyes?

Have u ever seen that "Mc pherson" tape of an alien abduction. i saw it when i was younger and it scared the **** outta me- now any aliens weather on tv or a pic of 1 freaks the crap outta me.

SpitfireIV

I dont like holding large glass things......glass shelves, table tops etc etc, I'm terrified they will break and slit my hands open!! :eek: :eek: (even as I am just holding them....when there is no chance they will break!)

RATS! Fecking hate them dirty, horrid things!!