[managusta]

Come on America. We must be able to beat the British at phobia's.

[GQuagmire]

“Tea bags, tree roots and midgets are other terrors......”

Must resist......

[LiberConservative]

I've always been fascinated by an up-and-coming phobia: fear of clowns. My daughter is in her 20’s and clowns give her the creeps.

[ThomasThomas]

I have a fear of foreign phobias.

[KJC1]

Explaining her dislike of peas, she said: "They tend to just look at me – ganging up on me. All the hairs on the back of my neck go up. I have to know where they are in the supermarket before I go in.

I feel terrible, but I am yucking it up over this!

Having said that, phobias are very real to the sufferers, and are not funny at all. I don't have any, but oddly I can kind of relate to this lady with the pea-phobia. Some small, round things gross me out and I finally figured out why: I think they remind me of kids making Rubber Cement "boogers" which looked like real boogers, rolling them around in their fingers and admiring them, LOL!

[PetroniusMaximus]

... and they also seem to be developing a fear of freedom.

[DieHard the Hunter]

There would be plenty of material here for a Monty Python sketch.

[TheConservativeParty]

What’s it called when you fear having your in-laws come for a visit? They’re union liberals by the way, how my husband turned out conservative is a miracle. At my house on Christmas, I took out my latest gun purchase to show my Dad (conservative) and my Mother-in-Law says “you have a gun?”. Answer “I have 4”. M-in-L “Why?”. Answer “ because this is AMERICA that’s why.” I swear she has cotton candy for brains. Everytime the husband says “guess who’s coming to see you?” I get a twinge of panic. I guess that is a phobia!

[Red_Devil 232]

Empty beer cans! Only cure is a full one.

[LucyT]

[JoeProBono]

Boo

[LucyT]

[anymouse]

Austin Powers: Only two things scare me and one of them is nuclear war.
Basil Exposition: What's the other?
Austin Powers: Excuse me?
Basil Exposition: What's the other thing that scares you?
Austin Powers: Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Smell like cabbage. Small hands.

[dighton]

CHREMATOPHOBIA n. Fear of money. The rarest complaint known to man. Sufferers from this condition, rejoice! Help is now at hand! Send all your money to the author, in a plain wrapper, and you need never know fear again!

— Peter Bowler, The Superior Person’s Book of Words.

[A knight without armor]

I don't know if it is fear but I've always been very repulsed by the thought of doing anything with eyeballs or belly buttons. I can watch any surgery on tv or video or a still picture but I have to turn away if it is the eyeball. I don't mind looking at most navels but I can't stand touching the inside. And outies. Outies freak me out. I saw this little boy once who had an outie that was at least an inch out. He was wearing his tee shirt pulled up and his pants way down. I wonder how it does not get caught in his clothing and belt. Why are there outies in the first place I wonder.

[exDemMom]

Genuphobia - Fear of knees.
Coulrophobia - Fear of clowns.
Lachanophobia- Fear of vegetables.
Pediophobia- Fear of dolls.
Automatonophobia- Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues - anything that falsely represents a sentient being.

There are many, many named phobias. The first three I listed were mentioned in the article, or by other posters. The last two have more personal meaning; I don’t panic, but I really dislike dolls and anything that resembles a human being. When I have to walk by mannekins in a store, I stay as far away from them as I can. While intellectually, I am aware that ventriloquist dummies are not, in fact, demons (as I believed they were when I was a child), I cannot stand watching a ventriloquist. However, I have no trouble with Ahmed the Dead Terrorist, probably because the dummy is a skeleton and therefore does not look like a human.

Phobias are a fascinating phenomenon.

[onedoug]

Ping

[BerryDingle]

I have a terrible fear of British Jews in an American grocery Produce Dept. asking for Mushy peas. They tend to fart often and once I see them, I have to quit shopping immediately, leaving my cart and wife there.

[Chode]

UNgland...

[El Sordo]

Aulophobia - fear of flutes.

Supposedly rare but quite real.

Go figure.

Phobias are inherently irrational.

[TigersEye]

I have an irrational fear of neurotic people. What’s that called? ;^)