Monday, July 25, 2005

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

If you are afraid of long words (hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic) then don't read this post! Ricardo suggests that I need a name for my affliction. I agree, because I certainly do struggle with the following fear, as evidenced by my experience at Kumi & Brian's wedding (see July 23rd post). I consulted an authoritative source and the following was the best I could come up with:

Athazagoraphobia- Fear of being forgotton or ignored or forgetting
+
Selaphobia- Fear of light flashes (I couldn't find a phobia for the fear of cameras, so this seemed the closest equivalent)

=

Athaselazagoraphobia- Fear of losing one's camera

3 comments:

Ricardo said...

I could not have said it any better! That was a lot of research on your part.

Hey, thanks for the post card, and we look forward to seeing pictures of Koji surfing in Australia.

Peace out,
Ricardo

Jane said...

One afternoon that Carice Weathers visited evolved into a monster word contest, each of you "one-upping" the other with each giant word followed by giggling. . .do you remember? I think she would get a kick out of your "authoritative source"! I wonder if its possible that she could top hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia with a medical word? I also wonder how its pronounced??

Jamie Lives in Tokyo said...

Ricardo, it was a little bit of research but I didn't mind at all...after you mentioned it, I couldn't resist my desire to know what such a phobia might be called. I'll be getting lots more of our "Oz" pictures up here soon!

Mom, I don't know that I remember that exact incident, but I know that Claire and I used to always try to outdo one another with vocab! I don't have any friends like that in my life right now, which a little sad, because such a contest would still crack me up!