James Baquet

    Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

    Lily: Hi, Becky. Can you help me with something?

    Becky: What’s that?

    Lily: I have to explain this quote in class, and I don’t get it.

    Becky: Okay. What’s the quote?

    Lily: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

    Becky: Oh, yeah. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States said that.

    Lily: Oh, the one who took America through the Second World War?

    Becky: That’s right. When he became president, the country was in the Great Depression, and many people were afraid they would lose their houses, or not have enough food.

    Lily: So the quote was supposed to reassure them?

    Becky: Yes. Do you know the word “phobia?”

    Lily: Sure. That’s an unreasonable fear of something.

    Becky: Exactly. So what Roosevelt was referring to was something called “phobophobia.”

    Lily: A fear...of fear?

    Becky: Bingo! If people made decisions out of fear, they would make mistakes.

    Lily: Got it. Hey, what are some other phobias?

    Becky: There are so many! Common ones include agoraphobia, acrophobia, and arachnophobia.

    Lily: Excuse me?

    Becky: “Agoraphobia” is fear of open spaces. The name comes from the Greek word for the market square, the agora.

    Lily: What do people with agoraphobia do?

    Becky: Often, they stay closed up in their houses, afraid to go out.

    Lily: I see. What was the next one?

    Becky: “Acrophobia” is fear of heights.

    Lily: That’s really common. Is it really so unreasonable?

    Becky: Not if you’re in a dangerous place. But if you’re in a really safe place, like inside a tall building, and still freak out, then you’re probably acrophobic.

    Lily: I see. And the third?

    Becky: “Arachnophobia” is a fear of spiders.

    Lily: What are some others?

    Becky: Well, sometimes we use “phobia” to mean something else. We basically use it when people don’t like something.

    Lily: For example?

    Becky: Well, xenophobia translates “fear of strangers,” but it really means a dislike or hatred of people who are different from us.

    Lily: That’s too bad.

    Becky: Then there are a lot of really rare phobias, that sound kind of funny.

    Lily: Like what?

    Becky: Well, “ergophobia” is an abnormal fear of work!

    Lily: Like laziness?

    Becky: Yeah, but intensified. How about “arachibutyrophobia?”

    Lily: What’s that?

    Becky: It’s a fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth.