Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Examine the word above; the title to this article. Without consulting a dictionary, or Google search, are you able to tell me what it is? It is certainly a real word.

Had you possessed pre-existing knowledge to that word’s definition, you may choose to feel a little bit smug now. If not, I’ll reveal all now…Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is the fear of the number 666.

Makes sense, doesn’t it? The prefix “hex”, after all, comes from the Greek for the number 6. Or if you look at it with simple mathematical erudition, the hexagon had six sides, right?

It may prove difficult to get your head around the name of the phobia at first, but what the phobia actually entails is relatively easy to understand. Fear of the number 666 comes about because of its connotations with Lucifer. The superstitious among us tend to stray as far as possible away from this number; perhaps going to such lengths as refusing to write the number down on a sheet of paper.

Now, the aforementioned phobia will, more often than not, be classed as an irrational fear. By extension, all fears are irrational, but this could be said to be highly so. I’m undecided on the matter, and am not so perverse to thinking that 666 is just another number in the world. I wouldn’t try and anger any “carriers of fate” either, by conducting an experiment to discredit the worth of the theories that 666 is an evil number, and attesting that 666 is no more “unholy” a number than 665 or 667 (though I have written it four times so far).

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia isn’t the only “number” phobia in the world. Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) is another common one, as is Tetraphobia (fear of the number 4) in East Asian culture, since the number 4 sounds like death in the Sinitic languages, and has an identical sound to death in Japanese and Korean. Following on from the long-standing worldwide saying: “13- unlucky for some”, we can also find Paraskavedekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13^th); a fear further sensationalised – in fact, immortalised in film (e.g. Friday the 13^th, plus its sequels).

From here on in, the phobias range from the ridiculous to the sublime (in terms of hilarity):

Panophobia (fear of everything)- Here it is; the smart child’s reason for not doing his homework. Sadly, such a phobia is often confused with extreme paranoia to everything.

Dutchphobia (fear of the Dutch)- I am dubious as to whether this one is real or not! Sounds like a scientist somewhere has said; “We need to invent a phobia that concerns the people of the Netherlands”. A more clear-cut phobia listed there is not.

Chaetophobia (fear of hair)- Must be fun having this when going through puberty, eh?

Vestiphobia (fear of clothing)- Want to streak around London? Tell the police this when they attempt to arrest you for indecent exposure.

Leukophobia (fear of the colour white)- At first, I was duped into believing this was the fear of contracting leukaemia. Were that the case, it wouldn’t have made this list, especially since white is generally thought of as being the colour of innocence and purity. Why would you be afraid of that?

Orthophobia (fear of property)- “Dear God!” Is that a house?! Flee, men!”

Ereuthrophobia (fear of blushing)- You might think that admitting to having a fear of blushing would cause you to blush…

Symbolophobia (fear of symbolism)- What is that?! A fear of differing analytical interpretations?

Phronemophobia (fear of thinking)- This must be what most chavs suffer from.

Geniophobia (fear of chins)- Need I say anything? I’m too busy laughing my ass of in this chair! Which I couldn’t do if I had…

Geliophobia (fear of laughter)- <- This…

Kathisophobia (fear of sitting down)- <- Or this.

Rhabdophobia (fear of being severely punished or beaten by a rod, or of being severely criticized)- I put this one in because of the all too specific “beaten by a rod”. Does it reflect on the “cane treatment” used many aeons ago, as punishment in school? Can’t be sure, but while we’re at it, let’s a phobia of having a fridge door close on your foot. Or tripping up over an ottoman.

Zemmiphobia (fear of the great mole rat)- Ok, there are mole rats now? There’s also a great mole rat? *gulps*. That, I’d be afraid of.

Phobias seem to have a place for every thing (tangible or abstract) on this planet. We even have phobias for things not on earth (e.g. Astrophobia, which is the fear of stars or celestial space).

Fear is weird; why do we have it? Though all human emotions are incredibly complex in the way that they can be felt for all items, all objects, all surroundings, all concepts, etc; they can all be felt for each and every different thing, depending on the person.