miniphobias

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

No, not fear of small things. Small fears of things.

What are those things that make you squirm, vaguely uncomfortable, or just wish you were elsewhere?

I’ve got two. Needles, not just any needles, but hypodermic ones. They make me cross my arms to protect my elbows.
The other is wasps. The way they fly slow enough for you to track and see them coming, but fast enough to keep you on guard. The characteristic buzzing note. The fact that they just don’t die (I cut one in half and left it for dead while defending myself with a flyswatter. The next day, both parts were still squirming around at the bottom of the trashcan.) They’re ugly little terminator insects.

#2

I don’t think this counts because it’s more of a big fear, but I’m afraid of the dark. Still. I’m 29 and sleep with the lights on. Feynn hates it and claims it disturbs his sleep. The only way to get around it is if I fall asleep first, and then he can turn the lights off.

I also have an irrational thing happening with putting away leftovers and checking the oil in my car, but I don’t think they count as fears. I just hate doing those things, for no discernable reason.

#3

I’m with ya’ there on the whole wasp thing. Yellow jackets and hornets too. They don’t send me screaming out of the room, but they do give me a bad case of the willies. Bumblebees and honeybees really have no effect on me. Odd.

I’m not really scared of anything. Spiders, feh. Snakes, pshaw. But, wasps, yellow jackets, and alligators creep me out. Now, I think that if I ran into gators as often as I run into wasps, I’d have a deep seated fear of them. But, I can get near them, feed them crackers, but I always am wierded out by them.

[sub]Staying at my friend’s condo on Hilton Head Island, there was a pond behind it and it had gators in it. They’d come up onto the back lawn to get the sun. That’s how I have come into contact with them.[/sub]

#4

I hate the dark too. But it really depends on my state of mind. If my Imagination Quotient is high, the lights stay on all night.

I’m afraid of talking to strangers or even acquantiences on the phone. I need to see the person up front, the phone is too alien to me. I hardly even call close friends unless I know I won’t have to talk to one of their family members very long, like to take a message.

#5

see, that’s why I have dogs and cats- If they’re ok, I know the vampires, bundies, or whathaveyous aren’t around.

The chickens worked pretty good too, till the vampires got 'em…

#6

neptune, I am SO with you on the talking-on-the-phone thing!! (Which is ironic, since I work for Verizon.) I’m OK with calling my family & my friends who live by themselves, but I just hate calling my friends who live at home. There’s always that possibility that I might have to talk to their parents or siblings. & GOD FORBID I should have to call up a store & ask when they’re open, or call a restaurant for reservations. It strikes fear into my heart. At work, I’ll only call someone if I’ve already emailed them like 4 times & haven’t gotten a response. I just DON’T LIKE talking to people I don’t know.

I also have quite a phobia going about small dogs, as I have commented upon in other threads.

#7

Clausterphobia (I think). Not the kind that makes me irrational and stuff but it’s enough to raise my pulse rate and speed up my breathing. I first discovered it while snorkelling for the first time in Greece. I’m a good swimmer and have no trouble being under water while holding my breath but somehow the restricted peripheral vision due to the mask and having to breath through the snorkel makes my heart palpitate.

Also hate crowded venues like sports events, malls with holidays season crowds, and very large rock concerts. Don’t mind thearters though - probably because the crowds are more sedate and controlled.

Finally, absolutely do not like to be touched by strangers or having them stand inside my personal space for no good reason. Just thinking of getting a massage by a professional gives me the creeps. Even getting my hair washed at the hair dresser is a less than relaxing experience.

#8

Here’s the stuff that gets me squirming:

  1. People touching their eyeballs. Whether to put contacts in, remove a stray eyelash, or whatever, I can’t stand it. I can’t watch till they’re finished. My brother-in-law and various GFs have had fun teasing me with this one. Oddly enough, I have no problem looking in the mirror and touching my own eye to get a hair out of it - just when I see other people do it.

  2. Tickling. I cannot stand to be tickled. This is my sister’s favorite. She will stand a good 6 feet away from me and wiggle her fingers at me and I’ll start squirming. This doesn’t work I’ll the time though, only if I actually think you’ll come over to me and start tickling. If I don’t think you’l really tickle me, I don’t squirm. On more than one occasion, during a hug or something, someone will accidentally tickle my ribs, causing me to scrunch up and pin my arms to my sides. I then stand in paranoia until I’m convinced it was not an intentional tickle. Most of my family doesn’t actually tickle me anymore, since I gave my sister a bloody nose for it when I was 14. (Hey, I warned to stop 3 times and told her I’d hit her!)

  1. Large crowds. I don’t mind get togethers or hanging out in public places, but large crowds of people packed together makes me extremely uncomfortable. I do not like being surrounded by a large group of people I don’t know.
#9

I’m with Crunchy on the tickling and eyeball things. And black & yellow flying insects…yikes! I was swarmed by a hive of bees when I was eight, and never quite got over it. I can handle snakes & spiders & rodents & other bugs, though.

The sound of a knife with a kink in it, spreading over toast. I develop goosebumps just thinking about that sound.

ick. I have goosebumps now. :frowning:

#10

I still cannot touch raw meat with my bare hands. Since I do most of the cooking, this can be a problem. Ever try to skin a chicken wearing rubber gloves?

#11

I have a few major ones:

  • Large bodies of water [like a pool, river, sea etc]. I can’t swim and water scares me pretty badly.

  • I’m claustrophobic to the extreme. Always have been, always will.

  • People touching my neck. I hate, hate, hate it. I shiver just thinking about it. I can’t even really touch it myself.

#12

Balloons. Just the birthday party type. Not hot-air balloons, or even the mylar balloons. I mean, those things could go off at any time! I can’t even watch someone blow one up. And when they start tugging and twisting to tie off the end. Stop! Stop! Don’t you realize the danger!!!

Now, I am a biologist. I like snakes, bugs, gators, bats, slimy things, the whole works.

Except roaches. Serious creep-out factor. I experience a visceral reaction if I see one. Part of me says “kill! kill!” and part of me says “run away!” Maybe I’ll just curl up in a fetal position and whimper quietly.

#13

I forgot to mention my feet. Do not touch them. Ever. I don’t even like clipping my toenails, because I have to touch them in order to do it. The idea of getting a pedicure makes my flesh creep across the back of my neck & the hairs on my arms stand straight up. I don’t know why I feel this way, but according to my mom, I’ve been like this my entire life. My feet are very sensitive & when they’re touched, I feel jolts all up & down my spine.

Fortunately, eight years of ballet have produced enough calluses, bunions, & deformity that no one wants to touch my feet anymore.

#14

Being in large crowds, or even not-so-large crowds. I don’t mind being in front of them (I was an actor for a number of years), but I truly dislike being in them.

I too don’t like talking on the phone. I hesitate to call it a phobia. It’s not a fear so much as I just don’t like it. Speaking of dislikes (this is weird)I really hate the sound of people chewing on ice or crinkling aluminum foil. Those will quickly send me out of a room.

#15

Yo…Tommy… feeding crackers, or anything else, to gators is a good way to earn the nickname “Lefty.” Now THAT will increase your fear quotient for these primordial beasts.

Mine (as I recall, the OP is about little fears) … having my checkbook fall out of my pants pocket int the ‘john’ - it (the checkbook) is too tall to button in. Never happened, but you never know.

Both my wife and daughter HATE answering machines / voice mail. Oops, not a fear, but others are sharing dislikes, too.

#16

I am terrified of clowns. Not just the Pennywise type, either. Bozo’s just as creepy. My mom has tried to remember whether I had some kind of traumatic experience with a clown as a child, but no dice.

I also have fears of small things. It makes me feel like a bigot, but I am really, really, skeeved by dwarves. Ditto leprechauns, and anything else really small and humanoid. Faeries are not to be trusted, either.

#17

The very tall author Robert Sherwood had a deathly fear of “little people.” To get from his offices to the Algonquin Hotel he used to have to walk past a talent agency which hired the vertically challenged. They would harass Sherwood unmercifully. They would surround him, grab his legs and sit on his feet and travel along like some sort of human amusement park ride. Eventually fellow authors Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchly would walk with him and fight off the small entertainers with umbrella and cane so Sherwood could get to lunch at the round table.

So Jane, you are not alone.

#18

I am afraid of many kinds of birds. Not enough to make me scream or run away just by seeing a creepy bird but I am usually nervous around them. That’s not an irrational fear though, that comes from a few childhood instances of being attacked by an angry and slightly deranged Mississippi Kite.

I too hate being in large crowds.

#19

Seagulls and pidgeons. Flying, flea-infested, foul fowl.
I have never quite trusted them and as I pay more attention, I notice their malevolent intent.
I’ve never been comfortable in the dark, I still like a nightlight, and the only time I’m completely comfortable in the pitch blackness is in Drachillix’s arms, but only at his house, now that I come to think about it. My place is set up so it never really gets pitchblack dark, because that would be bad…

#20

I thought I was the only person in the world “scared” of water. I overcame it… (I joined the swim team in High School. Bravest thing I ever did, let me tell you.) But I still refuse to open my eyes under water. That creeps me out beyond anything.

I don’t understand how you people do it.