azekeil: (nice fish)
[personal profile] azekeil
A friend kindly reminded me of a phobia I have. It's not a big or all-consuming phobia, but it's actually quite weird. I have decided to post it as a thought-provoking meme type thing. I'd be intrigued if you would either comment or post your own 'weird phobia', doing your best to convey your experience of the feelings your phobia invokes in you.

I have this Thing about plants. I don't mind looking at them, but I don't like touching them. Other than trees. I'll go reasonably out of my way to avoid touching them. Recently we went to a place with loads of sunflowers. It alarmed me how big and heavy they were, especially the heads.

I'm pretty certain it's to do with their feel. Bark and wood is reassuring and solid. Grass is mostly OK. Brambles are just annoying and potentially painful with their thorns, but their stems are solid enough not to bother me. It's things that are not solid, that are furry, or sticky, or just not wood-like or plain-without-hairs-and-not-rubbery-leaf-like in any way. *shudder*.

I'm going to tenuously link this to autism as autists are renown for disliking particular textures.

Oh, as a note, I've got used to eating plants and fruits, thankfully. But cannot stand fried tomatoes. Raw tomatoes are generally out, although occasionally I may have a little.

Date: 2006-02-21 01:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nemy.livejournal.com
the feel of terrocata. "shudder" its rough and sets my teeth on edge.

Date: 2006-02-21 01:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Oh yes - me too. I much prefer fully glazed pottery :)

Date: 2006-02-21 01:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] x-xsweetiex-x.livejournal.com
Polystyrene. *shudders*
I can't stand the feel of it, the sound it makes when you take something out of it's box...just argh!

eek!

Date: 2006-02-21 02:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sepheri.livejournal.com
I have a weird thing about what I term to be 'slimey food'.

There are different levels of slimey.
Reletively low down the scale are baked beans then in the middle are mushrooms and at the top is cold custard *shudders* they make me feel sick just thinking about them let alone putting any of them in my mouth.
There are lots of other foods that count too but I can't think of them right now.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growf.livejournal.com
Rotten or mouldy makes my stomach churn. I hate hate hate having to touch mouldy or maggotty food to dispose of it. It's not even anything tangible like texture or potential risk to health - it's just the whole concept of rotted food in general.

(On the other hand, disposing of sour, lumpy milk holds no such fear. Odd that.)

As a footnote, I'm also not a fan of tomatoes - unless pulped.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Not terrible for me, but I know it really bothers others :)

Date: 2006-02-21 02:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Slimey food - Jordan has learned to call anything that's slimey 'disgusting' - not as an adjective, but as a noun ;)

I used to be bad with baked beans and mushrooms, but I'm mostly better now. I never liked custard when it was hot. However, custard is fascinating for other reasons...

Date: 2006-02-21 02:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Hmm.

Tomatoes are fine, great even, when they're cooked in a dish with other things (eg. bolognaise) or in a sauce (tomato ketchup). I could not eat things as a child unless it was smothered in tomato ketchup. *shrug*. I think it's more to do with texture than anything else.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] growf.livejournal.com
My issue is with the green slime you often get around the seeds in the tomato. Pulp the crap out of it and it's suddenly not a problem.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katya-uk.livejournal.com
bitting cotton wool, or even just putting it in your mouth. just thinking about it makes my hairs stand up *shudders*.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Yes, I think that's the root of the problem for me and probably others. However, it's so closely linked to the flesh of the fruit that psychologically they're mostly intertwined.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
I find that sensation interesting more than disgusting. I remember chewing on the sleeves of wooly jumpers as a kid.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ev1ldonut.livejournal.com
Same here. Polystyrene scares me. If there's any way to avoid it, then I will do so...

Just the thought of it is putting me on edge! *shudders*

Date: 2006-02-21 02:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nina321.livejournal.com
Oh I'm exactly the same! Not Scared of plants as such, just would really rather not, and I have a little trouble arranging flowers if anyone buys me them.
My family know this, and so when I landed that job bought me a pre-arranged box of flowers! Bless them.

My crazy phobia is moths. Mottephobia, I do believe. I am utterly terrified of moths. There's no grey area or anything, they scare the absolute bejesus out of me.
IT extends to butterflies as well. Even seeing them on screen, or behind glass, sends shivers.
I don't know what started it, where this phobia stems from, but they terrify me. It got to a point where I was scared of summer coming round and was seriously considering some kind of phobia therapy. I never got that far and news recently has said (thankfully) that the numbers of moths has decreased dramatically, especially the bigger ones.

As a sort of compensation, I'm fine with spiders. I know spiders eat moths and whenever I see a big spider in the house my family/housemates call on me to rescue it. I won't kill them (unless I absolutely have to) because I know that more spiders = less moths!

But as for the moths, I won't open my window at night during the summer, however hot it is, because I'm damned certain they'd see the light and come in to terrorise me.

*fear*

Date: 2006-02-21 02:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nina321.livejournal.com
we got shown that a couple of years back when we did fluid mechanics as part of our chemical engineering course.

Date: 2006-02-21 02:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Interesting. Does that extend to the other flying insects you get if you open your window in summer with the light on, other than moths and butterflies?

sorry, I couldn't resist

Date: 2006-02-21 02:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nina321.livejournal.com
*chew-squeak*

Hehe...

Date: 2006-02-21 02:51 pm (UTC)
gerald_duck: (frontal)
From: [personal profile] gerald_duck
Eggs. Especially during cooking as the white becomes opaque. *yick*

Deformity, particularly polydactyly and conjoined twins.

Spitting things out.

I have other phobias too, like the feel of terracotta or expanded polystyrene, but those aren't weird phobias. (-8

Date: 2006-02-21 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nina321.livejournal.com
if you're on about things such as flies and wasps, I don't *like* them, no, but they don't bother me anywhere near as much as moths and b'flies. I mean, no-one Likes the flies and wasps and stuff, but I'd consider my reaction to them to be fairly normal.

Re: sorry, I couldn't resist

Date: 2006-02-21 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ev1ldonut.livejournal.com
*unimpressed face*

:p

Date: 2006-02-21 02:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Interesting! I can understand the raw egg thing, but the cooking process as the white becomes opaque? Can you explain that one further?

I can understand the phobia of deformity, but I consider that an important one to overcome. I'm still working on it. I had a fair amount of experience when I was living in Indonesia as a child. I made a point to shake the hand of someone who'd helped me, who had polydactyly.

Spitting things out is disgusting in its own right, but a phobia? Care to elabourate again?

Date: 2006-02-21 03:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Well, not just flies and wasps. they're fairly normal. I mean things like mosquitos, midges and daddy-long-legs. :)

Date: 2006-02-21 03:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] serena-lesley.livejournal.com
I'm not really sure if my intense reaction to being towed or towing a car qualifies as a phobia, TBH. I do have a 'normal' one of spiders though. No weird ones that I can think of. Does that make me normal?

Date: 2006-02-21 03:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] serena-lesley.livejournal.com
That's not the same as cotton wool, though. Try it sometime, it's a VERY different sensation.

From Nina's Dad

Date: 2006-02-21 03:08 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Where abouts on the slimey scale do slugs come?

Date: 2006-02-21 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sepheri.livejournal.com
Mushrooms actually make my quite ill so I don't have to put up with them now anyway. But non-Nwetonian fluids are cool, so long as I don't have to eat them.

Date: 2006-02-21 03:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nina321.livejournal.com
Daddy long legs don't really bother me. They harass me in the shower and I flick them with towels.
Midges, mossies, well, like I said, I don't think my reaction to them is any different to what is considered normal. I'm aware that they can bite/sting me and that if they do it may well hurt/itch and as such I don't welcome them in with open arms, but I view them as more of an irritation than a thing to be feared.

Moths on the other hand...

PS, I'm so sorry for my dad's uber mean comment just then...

Re: From Nina's Dad

Date: 2006-02-21 03:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sepheri.livejournal.com
Hmmm, pretty damn high I would say, though I've never eaten one!

Date: 2006-02-21 03:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ev1ldonut.livejournal.com
Really? What about tomatoes? You can't even think of eating if one is even slightly touching your plate, in whatever form the tomatoe takes. ;)

Date: 2006-02-21 03:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sepheri.livejournal.com
Oooo! Moths.
I am ok with them so long as they stay still but turn innto a screaming wreck the second they move. Its the way they flap about and fly at me.
I was leaving the house one day and one fell from the ceiling right down my cleaveage. Boy did I scream!
Horray foor spiders.

Date: 2006-02-21 03:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] serena-lesley.livejournal.com
Oh, shut it. Somebody else also has that, so it's not unusual. :P

Date: 2006-02-21 03:22 pm (UTC)
cryx: me showing off hair done by a stylist from paris (Default)
From: [personal profile] cryx
the green stemmy bit inside the tomato. ick.

Date: 2006-02-21 03:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ev1ldonut.livejournal.com
Not to your level though, that much aversion to them is quite uncommon...




I was just saying... *sniff*

Date: 2006-02-21 03:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] serena-lesley.livejournal.com
I probably could eat food off a plate with tomatoes on it, but not food that had been touching them or anything. And it wouldn't be as enjoyable.

Date: 2006-02-21 03:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
I must admit I have a bit of a panic when something flies straight into my face or my ear, but I think that's fairly normal. I can understand what you mean about the movement though.

Date: 2006-02-21 03:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
I'm not certain the car towing thing is quite a phobia either - it's sort of based on logical things, but the fear that's come from that event is quite something. :/

Date: 2006-02-21 05:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] solitairekisses.livejournal.com
I have a phoebia about jaycloths. :(

They are fine if they are brand new, i dont have the disure to have anyhting to do with them in that stage either, but when they are wet, or crumpled, dirty, It sends me off into shieks and I start crying hysterically, which is abit embarassing.

I refuse ot touch them, the texture makes me gag. and oh god do I even have to mention the smell.

Date: 2006-02-21 06:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
I totally get the J-cloth thing. They're disgusting and slimey when left lying around wet.

Date: 2006-02-21 09:24 pm (UTC)
gerald_duck: (Dafydd)
From: [personal profile] gerald_duck
Well… leaving aside the general ickness of the yolk sac, cooked egg white is nastily rubbery and flobbly, and the process of something going from a sticky clear liquid to that form, and the patterns produced during the intermediate stages… eww, basically.

So I've explained further, but I know it still doesn't make sense. Phobias don't, right? (-8

Yes, I agree the phobia of deformity is important to overcome, but it's somewhat tricky. I'd turn into a gibbering wreck if asked to shake the hand of someone with polydactyly. No doubt I could work it out of my system, but "excuse me, may I touch your hand a few times so it squicks me less?" is hardly something one can ask without making the afflicted feel like a circus freak.

Basically, once something's in my mouth it's getting eaten. The dislike of spitting things out — coupled, of course, with my silly range of allergies and intolerances — makes me really nervous about putting unknown foodstuffs in my mouth. It also means I ate toothpaste until I was about twenty!

Date: 2006-02-21 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bex-sgs.livejournal.com
God, me too. Argh.

Also, submarines. Can't stand their big, black, 8-times-bigger-under-the-surface lurkyness.

Also, I used to HATE the look of fish skin (e.g. on cod), would make me retch. Better now, but only just.

Date: 2006-02-21 11:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] invisigoth51.livejournal.com
Wasps and Bees... panic.

Not that weird really i suppose.

Date: 2006-02-21 11:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] invisigoth51.livejournal.com
Ooooooooh - i know, my vet-wife has a fear of 'wet wooden spoons' you can chase her round the kitchen with one and this normally sane down to earth sensible girl freaks out - someone else has to do them if they're in the washing-up.

Date: 2006-02-22 11:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] beeby.livejournal.com
Do you count smells? I feel physically sick if I smell a hard boiled egg and I cry if I think I can smell a gas leak. I always move away from the egg but if forced to stay near the gas smell I actually do cry and start to get hysterical. Presumably though that is an extreme version of a safety reaction.

Date: 2006-02-22 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Well the egg thing sounds like an extreme dislike, and the gas thing.. don't know. Would you say you are irrationally scared by the thing?

And what about daddy-long-legs? I thought you had a thing about them?

Date: 2006-02-26 10:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenova-red.livejournal.com
Hee, I know we went through this yesterday, but I thought I should add mine to the list for future mocking! As I said, what else are odd phobias for, if not to be mocked? :)

Here goes:

Swans, fish, dead leaves, heights, flying, spiders, moths, craneflies, the inside of kettles, toilet cisterns, boilers, drains, swimming pools, fans, robots...err, did I leave anything out?

Beat that, you guys! :D

Date: 2006-02-27 11:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aidan-gb.livejournal.com
Hi mate *waves*,
i'm [livejournal.com profile] katya_uks partner and wondered if you would like to friend me, i would of course friend you back ;o)

Date: 2006-02-28 11:34 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azekeil.livejournal.com
Hi, sorry, just realised I'd forgotten about this comment. Sure, not a problem :)

Date: 2006-02-28 02:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aidan-gb.livejournal.com
Cool, cheers dude, added back :)

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