• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Curious Phobias & Irrational Fears

Schrodinger's Zebra said:
I've just trawled eBay for 'old door handles' to try to find a picture to describe (and let me tell you, even scrolling through the pictures was deeply unpleasant for me!)

The closest picture I can find to match the metal I am thinking of is this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-x-bron...038837?hash=item341c983e35:g:-gkAAOSwSxteBdu0


And that's enough googling of that. *shudder*
Click to expand...
Bronze! Basically an alloy of copper and tin, if it's the traditional bronze type - or copper and zinc, in the modern version.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
Brass and copper are definitely two of them. There is (at least) one other but I don't know what it's called; I'd know it if I saw it. Its used on door handles a lot.

Ohh no, I couldn't use gold cutlery. Or silver. Whenever we look around a stately home or place like that (or on a telly program), and I see their silverware.... just no. Stainless steel is the only one I can use I think (or whatever modern cutlery is made from)... but then it has to be the 'right' one even then.





Do you have this issue too, or do you carry your own cutlery for different / hygiene reasons?

That is a good idea.... except I do have a 'chunky handled fork' which I should use because of my hand/finger problems but hardly ever think to take with me because I wouldn't have anywhere to put it so I just use it at home - I don't use a bag when Mr Zebra and I go out and about (I use a shoulder bag at work but that's because I carry my phone and medicine etc in it). Yeah, I'm an awkward sod!
Click to expand...
My cutlery is in a little case and I carry it at work because I travel around a lot.
 
I have some cutlery for camping, which is lightweight stuff made from carbon fiber or such. Works well enough.
 
ProfessorF said:
Apologies if there's another thread that covers this - I looked but couldn't see one!

I was talking to my housemates about their phobias - not the usual things like fear of heights, but objects, noises, smells, sensations that trigger a genuine fear.

Personally, I don't think I've encountered anything that I have an irrational fear of, quite unlike my housemates.
One cannot be in the same room if I'm sharpening a knife on a steel - fairly mundane compared to the girls.

Girl A hates seeing someone touch, rub their feet on, or rub anything else against carpet. I only discovered this after getting a dustpan and brush to sweep up a spilt ashtray - she went bright red and started cringing on the sofa! Even the noise was torturing the poor girl.

Girl B wouldn't tell us what her special fear is - until I brought home of the Direct Line Red telephones from work (a neglected prop from our basement many years old now) and BINGO that's the trigger. Something to do with the old school handsets I think, but she won't even talk about it! She had to leave the room - even though the phone stayed in a cardboard box.

So I was just wondering - who else has a completely irrational fear of an otherwise mundane experience?


edited by TheQuixote: altered thread title
Click to expand...
I have an irrational fear of balloons -i cant touch them ,im really uncomfortable if fim in the same room as them ,i hate the smell of them, if im sitting in a room with them i have to angle my head to avoid seeing them and xmas is tricky to say the least
 
I find it extremely uncomfortable to shower, the sensation is almost painful so I have to body wash with wet soapy towels instead ... if that counts as a phobia?.. I can handle getting into a warm bath but I have to lower myself in very slowly ....
 
Swifty said:
I find it extremely uncomfortable to shower, the sensation is almost painful so I have to body wash with wet soapy towels instead ... if that counts as a phobia?.. I can handle getting into a warm bath but I have to lower myself in very slowly ....
Click to expand...

Interesting ... Is the aversion related to having a lot of water touching you all at once?

Come to think of it ... Are you uncomfortable with swimming or other water-related activities? You live next to the sea, but I don't recall you ever mentioning any swimming / wading, etc.
 
Swifty said:
I find it extremely uncomfortable to shower, the sensation is almost painful so I have to body wash with wet soapy towels instead ... if that counts as a phobia?.. I can handle getting into a warm bath but I have to lower myself in very slowly ....
Click to expand...
Only warm, hot water? I think there is a skin condition of high heat sensitivity.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Interesting ... Is the aversion related to having a lot of water touching you all at once?

Come to think of it ... Are you uncomfortable with swimming or other water-related activities? You live next to the sea, but I don't recall you ever mentioning any swimming / wading, etc.
Click to expand...
I'm not a strong swimmer, no. I haven't been in the sea once since I moved to the sea side. Someone gave me a surf board but I just ended up selling it.
 
Swifty said:
I find it extremely uncomfortable to shower, the sensation is almost painful so I have to body wash with wet soapy towels instead ... if that counts as a phobia?.. I can handle getting into a warm bath but I have to lower myself in very slowly ....
Click to expand...

So... you're basically a soap-dodger.
 
Swifty said:
I do wash you cheeky mare, just body wash instead of a shower .. the sensation of shower water is unpleasant for me so it's a sensory thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah yeah.

It's a good job your missis has no sense of smell.
 
I was interested to learn today that I share a couple of quite specific phobias with a cousin. I've got dozens of cousins and we're not particularly close, but I don't think I've met others with those phobias before (a strong disgust of worms, slugs and snails). I wonder if it's genetic.
 
James_H said:
I was interested to learn today that I share a couple of quite specific phobias with a cousin. I've got dozens of cousins and we're not particularly close, but I don't think I've met others with those phobias before (a strong disgust of worms, slugs and snails). I wonder if it's genetic.
Click to expand...

The first thing to consider is whether you and that particular cousin might have developed the similar phobia(s) based on common negative experience (e.g., growing up in places that were plagued by squirmy slimy critters).

I suppose the second thing to consider is whether negative / aversive attitudes toward such creatures could have been adopted from your respective parents' generation (i.e., the two of you were individually primed with negative attitudes that were handed down from adult relatives).
 
EnolaGaia said:
The first thing to consider is whether you and that particular cousin might have developed the similar phobia(s) based on common negative experience (e.g., growing up in places that were plagued by squirmy slimy critters).

I suppose the second thing to consider is whether negative / aversive attitudes toward such creatures could have been adopted from your respective parents' generation (i.e., the two of you were individually primed with negative attitudes that were handed down from adult relatives).
Click to expand...
We grew up in quite separate areas of the country and my sisters and brothers don't share the same phobias. I also guess those phobias probably aren't that uncommon, but they seem to be less talked about than fear of spiders or snakes.
 
t'other day I was cooking for Techy, stirring with a wooden spoon, when I noticed there was a V-shaped chunk missing from it. Thought 'Now where's THAT gone?' and then forgot about it.

So next day when Techy was finishing his enormous beef casserole he found a chewy bit. Yup, it was wood from the spoon. I fitted it to the hole and it still left a peanut-sized gap so I dunno where the rest went...

Anyway later I told Escette and photographed the spoon to show to her on WhatsApp.
She replied 'I bet I can make that spoon disappear from your hand in 10 seconds!' I said 'Yeah, go on!'

So Escette sent messages like 'sprinkling magic dust' and 'muttering spells' and then asked if I was ready, and I was, and she sent back 'YOU COULD GET YOUR FRONT TEETH IN THAT GAP!!'

The spoon was launched.
She knows I have a deep and quite irrational fear of trapping my front teeth in things.

Those old fashioned back door keys terrify me, to the extent that when she jokily sent me a gift of a giant mediaeval-type ornamental key I was reduced to wrapping it back up sharpish with one hand, the other clamped over the gob. It's under my bed. I'll gert round to looking at it again some day.
 
James_H said:
I was interested to learn today that I share a couple of quite specific phobias with a cousin. I've got dozens of cousins and we're not particularly close, but I don't think I've met others with those phobias before (a strong disgust of worms, slugs and snails). I wonder if it's genetic.
Click to expand...

Some scientists investigating genetics have found your genes hold more of a key to your personality than have been previously thought. Stuff like the son of an artistic father who is given up for adoption as a baby will turn out to be very artistic as well, despite having never met their biological parent. Obviously there needs to be more research, but there does seem to be a link in our physical makeup.
 
OK then, here's another irrational fear of mine - forks with bent or distorted tines. They make me cringe.

Had a shock when I was shopping online for pickle forks and saw this one -
horrific pickle fork.jpg
which is resembles a normal fork that some twat has interfered with.
The thought of someone gripping the tines with pliers and bending them, and the horrible grinding noise you'd get, and then the even worse sound when they sharpened the outer tines... Gruesome.

There's a lot more to this but you get the idea.
 
escargot said:
OK then, here's another irrational fear of mine - forks with bent or distorted tines. They make me cringe.

Had a shock when I was shopping online for pickle forks and saw this one -
View attachment 26542
which is resembles a normal fork that some twat has interfered with.
The thought of someone gripping the tines with pliers and bending them, and the horrible grinding noise you'd get, and then the even worse sound when they sharpened the outer tines... Gruesome.

There's a lot more to this but you get the idea.
Click to expand...
:badge::badge::badge::badge:
 
Swifty said:
I find it extremely uncomfortable to shower, the sensation is almost painful so I have to body wash with wet soapy towels instead ... if that counts as a phobia?.. I can handle getting into a warm bath but I have to lower myself in very slowly ....
Click to expand...

I'm getting the sense here that some parts of your body are more sensitive to heat than others; specifically, the bit(s) that might hit the water after your feet.
 
escargot said:
I'm getting the sense here that some parts of your body are more sensitive to heat than others; specifically, the bit(s) that might hit the water after your feet.
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the enormous 'sexy' bits?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top