To have such a weird phobia?!

[WinterSnow]

I am terrified of nautical things, old style diving suits and ship figureheads being top of my list, I actually feel sick and dizzy if I know one is nearby, do you have any weird ones?

You haven't got a phobia about rugs any more, Joy?

Docks - there are a lot here in Sunderland. I imagine falling in the river and not being able to climb out. It comes from rowing at school and being a tiny boat in amongst all the massive industrial ships and cranes.

Apart from the labels, I also can't do big boats as KenDodd says - being in a tiny boat amongs the big ones. Or swimming in the sea next to a boat. Don't like it at all.

Stairs - but only the kind which have only the step and no riser at the back.
Think it comes from being little, slipping ad getting my foot caught.

And high edges beside water, not swimming pools but docks, boats etc. I blame my parents for that "careful you don't fall in"!

Worms. I used to gag when I saw them- especially big, fat ones! It's so bad now but I still imagine I can smell them. It's quite a hard one to explain....

I heard of a weird phobia this week - vinegar. An unfortunate one for a science teacher - they were doing the cabbage indicator experiment and she had to get the pupils to deal with the vinegar. No problem with HCl etc, so it really is irrational.

I have a phobia about eels.

I had to read The Iron Woman to a class at school a few years ago, and there is a scene where there are some eels writhing about in the water - it's like a bad omen or something. I was cringing and squirming as I read it, the kids thought I was v. odd when I explained I had a bit of an eel phobia. I've never even seen one in real life, just photos and TV.

I also hate foam - not shaving foam, the solid spongey kind. As a child, I did gymnastics and there was a pit type thing full of foam bits that you could practice dismounts into. The other girls used to love jumping in and throwing each other in for a laugh, and I would never do it. The thought of foam sets my teeth on edge. If I was in a pit of foam chunks, I would not be able to get out of there fast enough.

Random tall buildings. Not in a city, but when there's just one tall building on it's own. Particularly red brick buildings. .

Ashtrays - hate them!

- this video still gives me nightmares, when he picks it up and it's just stiff, ewwwww!

Moths.

I cannot bear them.

Stems from when i was about 17, got in from a heavy nights drinking. Reached over to the water i had put by the bed for rehydration, took a huge swig and realised a dead moth had been floating on the top.

Ill never forget the dustyness of the dead moth in my mouth.

The way they move freaks me out, like they have no idea where theyre going.

Milk
Rocks

Buttons

Can't bear them. Can't stand the word. Don't eat chocolate ones, can't touch technology ones if someone has called it a B beforehand.

Makes me shudder. Gag. Throat closes up.

Until my DS started school we had no clothing with buttons on in the house. My DH removed them from skirts etc and I replaced them with alternative fastenings.

Now my DC are at school I have had to get over it somewhat so now I just don't think about it too much and my phobia is restricted to loose buttons and decorative ones. Like the ones Next put all over their girls clothes. What are they all about?!

Tape measurers. The metal ones. I don't trust the way they move.

mannequin's scare me stupid!
in shops or museums as part of a display i have to run past them and get palpatations (sp?) think it stems from visiting a museum as a child and thinking that a real person in costume was a mannequin i nearly had a heart attack when he moved

twinmummy don't look at this - was until very recently in the window of the oldest dept store in Reading!

AIBU to have a phobia?

Do you really need to ask?

All phobias by their very nature are irrational & therefore not reasonable.

AIBU to think that people should choose the topic for their question with more care.

I have Ichthyophobia.

tigerchilli I have that too!

JoySzasz - I also hate the showers in chnaging rooms, I have to walk pat them with my eyes closed

Windowless rooms, like bathrooms in hotel rooms, especially if they have a loud extractor fan, just adds to the sense of panic.

Escalators (can just about go up them but cannot under any circumstances bring myself to go down them. Even at 8 and half months pregnant I go and find the stairs!!)
Bees (I think thats a relatively normal one)
Moths (again, probably normal but I can't enter a room knowing theres one in there, even if its not flapping around)

Milk. It's vile. I am scared to even sniff it. I feel guilty giving it to my children!!!!
Balloons. Evil.
Being splashed. I can't go swimming.
Looking in a mirror when it's dark. If I need the loo in the night I shut my eyes (I don't turn the light on or my eyeballs will explode with shock) to the mirror on the medicine cabinet.
Moths. Vile fuckers.
Daddylonglegs. There's an insect that needs a sat nav.

Butterflies, moths and dragonflies I am terrified of, just thinking about them makes me want to vomit, they are a world of wrong.

Also big birds (swans, geese, ostrichs etc.) are just plain scary.

I have always though plants were a bit creepy too.

I have a weird one that isn't so much a phobia but more a vertigo-type thing that makes me feel sick and dizzy about things that that seem disproportionately huge. Walking by cruise ships, really tall buildings, massive anchors, wheels etc. makes me feel odd. The empty swimming poool thing makes me feel this way too, it's horrible.

And yes to the unglazed pottery thing, I had a piggy bank that I couldn't bear to pick up because the touch makes me cringe shudder

GandTiceandaslice - I won't look in teh mirror when it's dark either