Fear. We all have fear about things in life — we fear that we won’t make enough money to take care of our families, and we also might fear that we just don’t measure up to other people in our lives. These are going to be pretty valid fears — after all, who would make fun of you for being a little worried about how to take care of your family?
That’s not the type of fears that we’re talking about today. There are just some fears that plague people that are just plain crazy. For example, have you ever met anyone with triskaidekaphobia? That’s the fear of the number 13. It doesn’t have to necessarily be the fear of Friday the 13th, but it’s certainly something that can be part of it.
We didn’t want to just stop at this little phobia — we have 5 more for you to check out and determine for yourself whether you find them crazy, funny, or our favorite…crazy and funny!
1. Aracibutyrophobia
Now, when it comes to aracibutyrophobia, a lot of people think it’s merely the fear of eating peanut butter. However, it’s a little crazier than that — it’s the fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of their mouth. Merely eating peanut butter isn’t enough crazy, we guess. It’s all about avoiding that peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth! Whatever will you do if you can’t get the peanut butter down from there? Haven’t these people heard …of a toothbrush, tongue scraper, or in a pinch…your fingers? Not the most classy thing to do in front of company, but if you’re really that scared of choking there’s nothing like it.
2. Nomophobia
If you’re feeling a little attracted to your cell phone, you might want to think about cutting the cord — well, it’s wireless but…you know what we mean. Nomophobia is actually the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. This is something that we think a lot of people have from time to time, but people suffering from nomophobia truly feel like there’s no way that they’re going to be able to get in touch with their loved ones, and that just makes them flip out. It’s something that can be triggered from just being out of network coverage, or having your phone shut off because you don’t have any money to put on the phone.
3. Ephebiphobia
Ephebiphobia is the fear of teenagers. Curse those meddling kids! OK, Scooby Doo jokes aside, there really are people that are downright scared of teenagers. Fear of youth and most importantly, being rejected by young people usually forms the block of fear that turns into ephebiphobia.
4. Phagophobia
Phagophobia is the fear of swallowing, which can really make you freak out! However, for people that have full blown phagophobia, they’re truly scared to swallow anything. Some of them look into home IV systems, while others simply go without food. Those with milder forms of this fear can handle soft foods and liquids, but dramatic weight loss and malnutrition often plague people that have this fear.
5. Estiophobia
Estiophobia is the fear of clothes. Yes, that’s right — there are really people that are irrationally afraid of clothing. Maybe they’ve had one too many dreams about sweaters rising up and taking over. It’s “The South will rise again”, not “The Sweaters will rise again”, people. Get it right, and you’ll be okay. Still, there really are people that are afraid of their sock drawer staging a revolt, which leads to a lot of tension about wearing clothes. In more severe cases, this could also turn into agoraphobia, which is the fear of being in large wide spaces with people. After all, if you’re not comfortable wearing clothes, your chances of being able to move about are kinda limited, right? Well…there are always the nude beaches of France!
Now, these are all real fears that people have, and they generally need medical help in order to live normal lives — to the best of their ability. Regardless of how you feel about these fears, they really are bizarre. And that’s what makes them funny!