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Original poster

Does anyone else have this phobia...?

66 replies

pinky7987 · 03/05/2023 20:56

I'll be the first to admit I'm an absolute weirdo, but ever since I can remember, I've had a phobia of buttons. As in buttons that you find on clothes. Even typing the word creeps me out! I have no idea why this is or how to get over it. There is actually a name for this phobia but can't remember it.

Does anyone else have this or any other weird phobias?

OP posts:
JoeyDeacon · 03/05/2023 21:48

Also button phobic - and also fine with metal (jeans) buttons. It’s the plastic shirt ones that are the worst…especially if they’re free-ranging! Hate them on duvet covers, it’s the thought that your bare foot might accidentally touch one in the middle of the night. Oh the horror…!

GeraltsBathtub · 03/05/2023 21:49

I’ve heard of button phobia but never met anyone with it before. I did meet a girl who had a phobia of wrists though. A lot of MNers seem to have a phobia of feet which is just as weird.

toin · 03/05/2023 22:04

Stressyfab · 03/05/2023 21:00

Not buttons but I do have an odd one that I can’t find a name for?
I hate hate hate planes flying overhead. Hate the noise, especially low flying.
Weirdly enough I’m fine actually flying but you best believe making my way from the parking to the airport will panic me!

I have a fear of aircraft over head especially at night. I've found using an app like freedar really helps because I can see what it is, how high it is and the direction it's going, I can see it flying away from me which helps

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:09

A lot of MNers seem to have a phobia of feet which is just as weird.

No that's normal. They're awful. It's not just a MN thing either. It's pretty common, not always to the point of a phobia but a lot of people find them revolting.

GeraltsBathtub · 03/05/2023 22:11

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:09

A lot of MNers seem to have a phobia of feet which is just as weird.

No that's normal. They're awful. It's not just a MN thing either. It's pretty common, not always to the point of a phobia but a lot of people find them revolting.

No, it’s weird. Why would it be normal to have a phobia of a body part 99% of us have? Do you think animals are repulsed by their own [species’] feet?

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:12

I have a lot of phobias. Nails are another. The ones on the end of your fingers, not the B&Q type. I don't even like the word.

RubaiyatOfAnyone · 03/05/2023 22:12

Clicketty-clack goes the button manAnd his legs turn back at the knees,There’s a trail of buttons wherever he goes,And a hum like the swarming of bees

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:12

Also balloons.

Allodole · 03/05/2023 22:14

I’ve got the b-phobia badly. Plastic (or horn, wood, etc.) ones with holes in absolutely disgust me. Fabric-covered, etc, not great but not bad either. The type you find on jeans is ok.

Not all the plastic-hole ones are equal either. I have work trousers with one and I wouldn’t give it a second thought. But shirts? Awful. Polo shirts? Utterly disgusting. Extra disgust points for weirdly sized buttons, such as a row of many teeny tiny ones, and superfluous decorative buttons. I had a hard time when jumpers with buttons that went up round the neckline were in.

I was ironing something for work this morning when I saw a tiny broken button in my dp’s wardrobe. Felt physically sick and had to close the wardrobe door.

LizzieVereker · 03/05/2023 22:14

I used to teach a teenaged girl who had a button phobia, particularly plastic buttons. She and her Mum got permission to change her shirt and blazer buttons to a type that she could bear to touch. She was ok being near buttons on other people’s clothes, it was mainly a fear of touching them, but sometimes she would stare obsessively at a button that was really worrying her. She said her fear revolved around choking, she felt that if she touched a button she’d feel compelled to put it in her mouth, and then she might choke. The same girl also had a strong phobia of cotton wool.

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:15

We are animals but we do a lot of strange stuff that other animals generally don't so no, I don't find it weird that many people dislike them.

HoldingTheDoor · 03/05/2023 22:16

At least no weirder than the other bizarre things that humans do.

DinaofCloud9 · 03/05/2023 22:18

I did have it as a child but I'm not so affected by it any more.

Booklover40 · 03/05/2023 22:19

My dd has a phobia of buttons. She has to wear a shirt for school which for some reason she accepts - I think because she knows she has no choice - but she has never worn anything else with buttons, hated them from being a young age and she lives in stretchy leggings/t shirts. I suspect she is somewhere on the spectrum and this has also been mentioned by her teacher.

Soproudoflionesses · 03/05/2023 22:27

Not a phobia but l detest them

Lemonfizzy · 03/05/2023 22:32

My best friend at school had this! A strong childhood memory is her having a meltdown at our primary school's summer fete because there was a 'guess how many buttons in the jar' game right by the entrance, and the lady behind the stool handed her the jar and asked her to guess.

longtompot · 03/05/2023 22:34

My dd doesn't like buttons when they are used for eyes on things, like in Coraline, and she also has a phobia of holes which I think is connected.

Ladysaurus · 03/05/2023 22:40

I had a teacher who was scared of buttons.

I am scared of marshmallows. -shivers-

momentarybliss · 03/05/2023 22:41

My DD hates them too. School polo shirt is the only buttoned item she will (reluctantly) wear.

caringcarer · 03/05/2023 22:50

DH has the same phobia. Bizarrely he can just about cope with buttons on a shirt but goes loopy over loose ones not attached to anything. If a button were to fall off his shirt he would not pick.it up and put in pocket to be sewed back on. He would throw the shirt out.

Marigoldilock · 03/05/2023 22:57

Chalk. Bahhhhhhrrrgh.

rewilded · 03/05/2023 23:12

I did meet a girl who had a phobia of wrists though.

I had this also but has now pretty much gone. I think it was a childhood of religious iconography.

Flokibeard · 03/05/2023 23:26

You're not weird OP, well if you are, a lot of us are! I have the same degree of repulsion but of holes.. My hair stands on end just thinking about clusters of holes 😬😬 it's called Trypophobia I think.

My daughter is exactly the same. Despises holes and we both shudder when we think about holes 😅 Picture a suet block put out for the birds and all the pecks in it.. That has us climbing the walls 😂 needless to say, suet blocks are banned here!

Stressyfab · 04/05/2023 05:11

@toin never even thought of this but I think it will help! Thank you

tuvamoodyson · 04/05/2023 05:57

Cats. They terrify me.