Phobia is from the Greek for fear or hatred. A phobia is an excessive, unreasonable or irrational fear of an object, place or situation. Phobias are extremely common, and anyone, no matter how well adjusted they are, can fall prey to them. Sometimes they start in childhood for no apparent reason; sometimes they emerge after a traumatic event; and sometimes they are completely ridiculous!

I have some friends who have an irrational fear of uncooked meat. (You know who you are!) They won’t eat any meat unless it resembles roadkill that has been set on fire and then left on the highway of the entire summer. The best words to describe their disorders are Carnophobia (The fear of meat) and Omophagiaphobia (The Fear of eating raw flesh).

When researching their disorder I came across some other phobias that are just too weird not to talk about.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia – The Fear of Friday the 13th. This one is just too long to bother remembering!

Phronemophobia – The Fear of thinking. Doesn’t being scared of something require thinking about it!?

Xanthophobia - Fear of the colour yellow or of the word yellow. Are you serious?

Clinophobia - Fear of going to bed. I have this one, or rather a fear of sleeping.

Coulrophobia – The Fear of clowns. I have this one as well.

Aibohphobia – The Fear of palindromes. A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! Do you find this scary?

Defecaloesiophobia – The Fear of painful bowel movements. Do some people enjoy them?

Kyphophobia - Fear of stooping. What the?

Lunaediesophobia – The Fear of Mondays. Yep,me to.

Medectophobia - Fear of the contour of one's penis being visible through clothing. This one was too funny to leave out.