Paraskavedekatriaphobics beware! Today's Your Day!
Happy Friday the 13th everyone!! Many people take today off of work and stay at home because of the bad luck associated with it. I'm wondering if it is any coincidence that even though the college is open and class is in session, all of my teachers have independently decided they will not hold class today.....hmmm. Oh well, works out for me! I was looking around the web for Friday the 13th stuff and was not surprised to learn that it may have had nautical origins, just like everything else(admit it Rach)!! Sailors were particularly Paraskavedekatriaphobic(afraid of Friday the 13th), often refusing to ship out on a Friday. According to legend, the British Navy commissioned a ship in the 1800s called H.M.S. Friday to dispell any superstitions the sailors held about the day. The navy selected the crew on a Friday, launched the ship on a Friday and even selected a man named James Friday as the ship's captain. Then, one Friday morning, the ship set off on its maiden voyage... and disappeared forever. I think the sailors are right for having their superstitions, out in the middle of the sea where nobody can come to your aid and your life is on the line, you need to be wary of every slight trick and tool that might help you come home alive. Along with the fear of Friday the 13th, many sailors also suffer from:
Fear of flogging -- Mastigophobia
Fear of the ocean or sea (poor bastards) -- Thalassophobia
Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth -- Arachibutyrophobia
Fear of sharks -- Selachophobia
Fear of puppets -- Pupaphobia
Fear of bathing -- Ablutophobia
Fear of alcohol(riiiiiight) -- Methyphobia or Potophobia
Fear of beautiful women(again, riiiiiight) -- Caligynephobia or Venstraphobia
Fear of falling in, or being in love -- Philophobia
Fear of long words(whoever named this one was just cruel) -- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
Fear of everything(poor bastards) -- Panophobia
And finally, the fear of painful bowel movements -- Defecaloesiophobia
Luckily, I escaped the Navy without developing any of these fears..........
Since I have school off today, I think I'll head to my favorite bookstore in Seattle, Elliott Bay Books, to irritate the customers for a while. And if I don't make it through this Friday the 13th, I just want everybody to know that my lucky can opener goes to Dan Murray.
4 comments:
Those sailors are a fearful lot, Yarrrrgh! I swear that there is enough phobias in a sailor's head to account for damn near anything bad that happens. I expect there are probably some real amazing ones too that explain anything good that happens. Maybe on those old sailing ships, though, the bad occurred more frequently than the good. There should probably be a good shrink on every vessel, but no doubt there is a phobia associated with that as well.
btw, if you set a record for consecutive days of rain, I'll expect to see a good blog on that topic. Oh, and in case you were wondering, pluviophobia is the fear of rain!
Word has it that our 28 day streak ended yesterday, five days short of the record. I was bummed, might as well get something out of a straight month of rain!! A Seattle-ite with a fear of rain is probably just as bad as a sailor with a fear of the ocean.....
It is uncanny that three days after your post, the Today show mentioned the "Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth -- Arachibutyrophobia." You are really tuned into the pulse of modern mass media, Joe.
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