Know It All

He's got an answer for everything, week 29

What's the biggest phobia in the world?
The biggest, or most common, phobia in the world is arachnophobia, the fear of spiders (and other arachnids, like scorpions). It has been estimated that up to 55% of the female population and 18% of the male population are scared of these eight-legged monsters. It has been supposed that this fear has an evolutionary trait, that our ancestors often had to contend with venomous spiders and this has somehow passed down in our genes.
The least common phobia in the world is a fear of sharing a twin tub with a supermodel whilst drinking champagne and lighting cigars with £20 notes, which oddly enough does not have an official name.


What are the top five silliest phobias?
There are plenty of silly phobias and made up phobias, there is even a phobia of phobias called unsurprisingly phobophobia. The top 5 silliest phobias are:
1.    Hippopotomonstorsesquipedaliophobia: which is not a fear of hippos, but actually a fear of long words. Cruel in the same way that dyslexia is the word for a spelling disorder.
2.    Koumpounophobia: a fear of sewing buttons.
3.    Nomophobia: a fear of being out of mobile phone contact, constructed from the words no mobile phone phobia.
4.    Porphyrophobia: a fear of the colour purple, not the Alice Walker book/Steven Spielberg film, the actual colour.
5.    Panphobia: you aren’t getting out of bed ever if you have this one, it is a fear of everything.

How do phobias and the law work? Are they a legitimate defence?
The law has to be flexible with phobias, as many of them are considered medical disorders and can be crippling. However, others, such as homophobia or xenophobia, are not a legitimate defence in a court situation, if anything they can be incriminating. Claiming you have pavophobia after being caught killing peacocks is not a mitigating circumstance.
Examples include a man who had been charged under the Road Traffic Act 1988 for being over the legal driving limit. He refused to submit to a blood test claiming he had a fear of blood (haemophobia) and this was later accepted in court. However, a woman who was being charged under the same act claimed she had a phobia of needles (trypanophobia) preventing her from giving a blood sample. In her case, the prosecution rejected this claim. It basically depends on the forensic medical examiner at the time.


Do any famous people have crazy phobias?
Being famous doesn’t mean you can avoid having a phobia, as shown by these unfortunate souls. Anne Rice, author of the famous Vampire Chronicles, has ahluophobia (fear of the dark). For a man who conquered half of Europe, you would be surprised to find out that Napoleon Bonaparte had a fear of cats (ailurophobia). Howard Hughes famously had a fear of germs (mysophobia) leading him to be a glove-wearing recluse.
Walt Disney may have had nightmares over his most famous product; he had a fear of mice (musophobia). He may have played on the wing, but you won’t see David Beckham visiting an aviary anytime soon due to his ornithophobia (fear of birds). Brad Pitt has a fear of sharks (selacophobia), actress Shannon Elizabeth has a fear of chickens (alektorophobia) and Pamela Anderson has eisoptrophobia (a fear of mirrors). Finally, Nicole Kidman has lepidopterophobia, a fear of butterflies, probably because if one landed on her the extra weight would snap her in half.


What's the best phobia to develop?
The best phobia to develop is ergophobia, or the fear of work or finding work. It comes from the Greek “ergon” which means work and “phobos” which means fear. If you could convince a GP to give you a doctor’s note stating that you have this debilitating condition then it would be great to wave it at your better half when she tells you to get your lazy backside out of bed and look for a job. Or even make a cup of tea.
Other not too bad phobias to have (depending on their severity) include ablutophobia (fear of bathing), great for those too lazy to jump in the shower; coulrophobia (fear of clowns), great for getting out of taking kids to the circus; lipophobia (fear of fat in foods) common in supermodels and scolionophobia (fear of school), school’s out for ever!

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