Phobias are the fear of something. In general, fear is quite common: most of us know someone who is afraid of heights, spiders or public speaking. But it is possible to be afraid of many other things. Here are some of the more unusual phobias I’ve come across:

Chionophobia

This is the fear of snow. Which, if you’re a fan of winter sports, sounds pretty unusual, but it’s often centered around a fear of snowflakes, making it an uncomfortable phobia in certain climates.

sesquipedalophobia

A misnomer for the fear of long words. This is not a phobia that he suffers from, but his name is certainly unpleasant. Some people are afraid of long words because they fear they will mess up their pronunciation or sound stupid.

Fear of gravity being reversed

I haven’t been able to find an official name for this (although Barophobia covers the fear of gravity itself), but the idea of ​​one of nature’s laws being literally turned upside down is not something I’d personally like. stop me. .

asymmetryphobia

This is the fear of asymmetrical things. At first it doesn’t seem too worrisome until you remember that many things in the world are asymmetrical, whether it’s an odd number of leaves on a plant or slight differences between the left and right sides of our bodies.

somniphobia

The fear of sleep is fortunately quite rare since we all need sleep (some more or less than others). It’s a fear we typically grow up with: children are more prone to this phobia, especially if they’ve recently suffered from nightmares.

gefirophobia

Another uncomfortable concern: the fear of crossing bridges. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer from this, your journeys could be much longer. Modern architecture helps prevent disasters like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that spectacularly collapsed in 1940, just months after it first opened to the public.

melanophobia

Or the fear of black, so it’s not a popular phobia among goths. Black is regularly found in the world, so this phobia is one that you would like to cure or at least reduce if possible.

paraskavedekatriaphobia

While many of us suffer from this fear, it is usually only as a result of superstition – this is the fear of Friday the 13th. A few poor people suffer from this most strongly and as such are severely affected between one and three times a year.

Fear of cracks in the pavement.

Another one I couldn’t find an official name for. This is the phobia of stepping on cracks in the pavement and it is usually accompanied by a worry that the cracks will open up and maybe swallow you or, in one of the more extreme examples I found, suck you into another dimension entirely.

caligynephobia

This is a fear of beautiful women, as hard as it is for most men to believe. It is believed to be related to the much more common social phobia in which people are afraid of social situations.