Living organisms move. They act. Their actions may be inimical to man\u27s best interests. They inspire fear, dread, even terror. From time immemorial, humans have viewed with alarm, nay, with horror, the evil that lurks inside living consciousness

Houdini, Merlin X.

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ng sentence verbal pal­t the fi c­:ov's nov­~arette ,n of no olita's . In his le past is , pointing ch can be e any more rond the I1terest in , they in­la's Lon r Otto 1. lin such a f a young ld pre­y two rmchair, lre manu-that ode! 11 )11 II But 235 LIVING TERROR MERLIN X. HOUDINI, IV Living organisms move. Theyact. Their actions may be inimical to man's best interests. They inspire fear, dread, even terror. From time immemorial, humans have viewed with alarm, nay, with horror, the evil that lurks inside living consciousnes s. I have now assembled the vocabulary of fear as it relates to life, and am releasing it to an unsuspecting world in this article. Those of faint heart are warned to turn immediately to other pages of Word Ways I Inevitably, error has crept into the literature enumerating the se fears. Sisson 1 s wor~ and Expression Lbcater, by A. F. Sisson (Par­ker Publishing Company, We st Nyack, New York, 1966l, lists the term AILEUROPHOBIA for fear of cats. That spelling is etymologically in­defensible and must be dismissed as a typographical error, possibly for AILOUROPHOBIA. The Dunlop Book of Facts, edited by Norris and Ross McWhirter (Breghorn Publications, London, 1964), gives BATRACHOPHOBIA as the fear of reptiles. The term is derived from the Greek word BATRACHOS which means 11 frog l1 , so that the listing in Dunlop is clearly an error. I have deemed it expedient to divide known fears into three groups. The first and largest group is comprised of fears revolving around an­imals and animal parts or products. Object or Situation Feared: Names of Phobias Animal fur s: doraphobia Animals: zoopho,bia Animal skins: doraphobia Animal spirits: zoophobia Animal te eth: 0 dontophobia Ants: myrmecophobia Bees: apiophobia, apiphobia, melissophobia Bee stings: apiphobia Being clawed by animals: amychophobia Being scratched by animals: amychophobia Birds: ornithophobia Bulls: taurophobia Cats: aelurophobia, ailourophobia, ailurophobia, elurophobia, felino­phobia, galeophobia, gatophobia Dogs: cynophobia, kynophobia Feathe rs: pteronophobia 236 Feline s: aelurophobia, ailurophobia, felinophobia Fish: ichthyophobia Frogs: batrachophobia Harbodng tapeworms: taeniophobia Horses: hippophobia Human beings: anthropophobia, apanthropy, apanthropia Insects: entomophobia Lice: pediculophobia, phthiriophobia Meat diets: carnophobia Mice: muriphobia, musophobia Mite s: acarophobia, entomophobia People: anthropophobia Reptile s: herpetophobia, ophidiophobia Serpents: ophiophobia, ophiophoby Shellfish: ostraconophobia Snake s: ophidiophobia, ophiophobia, snakephobia Spiders: arachnephobia, arachnophobia Stinging insects: melis sophobia Stings: cnidophobia Swine: s winophobia Ticks: entomophobia Toads: batrachophobia Wasps: meli s sophobia Wild animals: agrizoophobia Worms: acarophobia, helminthophobia, vermiphobia, scoleciphobia Zoomorphized entitie s: zoophobia The second, much smaller, group is comprised of fears revolving around plants and plant products. Evidently, plants are regarded as much more docile than animals. Objector Situation Feared: Names of Phobias Big tree s: dendrophobia Flowe r s: anthophobia, botanophobia Forests: hylophobia Plant s: botanophobia Trees: dendrophobia Vegetables: lachanophobia Woods: hylophobia The third and smallest group consists of fears revolving about microscopic and parasitic organisms, viewing these organisms as harbinger s of disease and death. Object or Situation Feared: Names of Phobias Bacilli: bacillophobia Ba cte ria: bacte riophobia, mic robiophobia Germs: bacteriophobia, microbiophobia, microphobia, spermato­phobia, spermophobia Microbes: 1 Microorgan Parasite s: ophobia As alwa sented are ( drawing boa get acquaint MA Th: wo ins ali: Th Dil We 1'1 dis Afl Ca lee ( r la: SiJ ca sc i01 ch is: Gr he ( r fiE )hobia evolving 'ded as :Jout s as 237 Microbes: bacilliphobia, bacillophobia, microbiophobia, microphobia Microorganisms: bacteriophobia, microbiophobia, microphobia Parasite s: acarophobia, helminthophobia, parasitophobia, pedicul­ophobia, phthi riophobia As always, the exact sources of the terms and definitions just pre­sented are available on request. Further flocks of phobias are on the drawing boards, for the benefit of those waiting on pins and needles to get acquainted with them. MALEDICTA This is the name of a new journal specializing in the study of words used as instruments of aggres sion. Quoting from the inside front cover of the first (Summer 1977) issue, it speci­alizes in II verbal aggression, pejoration, derogation, scurrility, vi­vuperation, objurgation &dysphemism - swearwords, insults &terms of abuse - threats - curses - blashphemy ..., scatolo­gy ~ cynicism, sarcasm, satire & irony - derogatory pro­verbs, sayings, similes, comparisons &metaphors - nega­tively valued nouns, verbs, adjectives &adverbs - expletives, exclamations, offensive ejaculations & other emotive and af­fective utterances ... " This is sue contains article s such as It Malas Palabras: Talking Dirty in Cuban Spanish!!, "The Origin of Our Strongest Taboo­Word" (Shipley thinks it comes from the middle English firk) , 'I Malediction and Psycho-Semantic Theory: The Case of Yid­dish" and" Belaboring the Obvious: Sarcastic Interrogative Affirmatives and Negatives" (is water wet? is Billy Graham Catholic?). Not all articles are soberly academic; there is a leavening of humor as well, as exemplified by Stinky Pinkie s (rhyming adjective-noun pairs, as the synonym for tI one dol­lar intercourse") . Since verbal aggression employs many sexual and scatologi­cal terms, the journal is definitely X-rated -- vulgar and ob­scene words are frequently and explicitly displayed in the var­ious articles. Those interested should send ten dollars by check or money order fo r a year I s subscription (three or four issues totalling 300 pages) to Dr. Reinhold Aman, 331 South Greenfield Avenue, Waukesha, Wisconsin 53186. 1£ chicken­hearted, send him a postcard asking for an examination copy (returnable by fourth class book mail for 35 cents if not satis­fied) . ato­

Living Terror

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Living Terror

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