Phunny Phobias Trivia Quiz

Answer: fear of beards

Pogonophobia is from the Greek roots "pogono", meaning beards, and "phobia", meaning fear. Now phobias are not a laughing matter in that the phobic person suffers extreme anxiety, dread and panic caused by the object of the phobia; they can demonstrate symptoms like sweating, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat and nausea.

But this quiz is meant to bring out those lesser known fears which can still create havoc in a person's life. Pogonophobia is the irrational and sometimes unwarranted fear of beards.

This fear increased after the bearded perpetrators of 9/11, but can even be brought on by images of Santa Claus.

Answer: cynophobia

What do you get when you mix cynophobia with ailurophobia? I'm not sure but, hopefully, it isn't raining cats and dogs! Although not as prevalent as fear of snakes and spiders, cynophobia is more common then you might imagine, especially when you consider dogs are a part of most people's daily lives.

This fear is often brought about in childhood through a negative experience with a dog or, perhaps, simply by having parents warn their kids about strange dogs. Fortunately, the hot dog does not trigger this fear, so sufferers can still go to ballgames.

Answer: phartophobia

Seriously, these are all real phobias, i.e., phartophobia (farting in a public place), mageirocophobia (cooking), spargarophobia (asparagus), and ablutophobia (bathing). The victims of phartophobia are more often women than men (perhaps because of the public stigma), and the fear can cause anxiety, extreme discomfort or even a panic attack. Phartophobia is considered a social phobia; such phobias may be genetic in nature or the result of hormonal imbalances. Personally, I would keep away from beans.

Answer: fear of flutes

The others other choices are also real fears: panophobia (everything), asthenophobia (fainting), acarophobia (itching)...but fear of flutes? Yes, aulophobia, i.e., the fear of flutes or similar wind instruments, is real; some sufferers experience it all the time and some only in response to direct stimuli (which would be unfortunate in the case of an orchestra member).

While this phobia is extremely rare, it is one of the oldest documented phobias, the first case having been described by Hippocrates in Greece.

The symptoms can be mild or severe (as with all phobias), but the good news is it can be overcome.

Answer: gravity

Did you know that there are 2 types of barophobia or the fear of gravity (you may not have known about even one)? One type is where the phobic fears they will be crushed by the gravitational pull when it becomes too great (heavy!); the other is that gravity will disappear causing them to float away.

In either type, if the phobia is severe enough, it could cause anxiety, palpitations, breathlessness, dizziness, etc., thereby compromising the activity of their daily lives. I wonder if balloons would help the former and an anvil the latter?

Answer: Oprah Winfrey

Chiclephobia is the fear of chewing gum or other people chewing gum or the sight of previously chewed gum or fear of the germs from previously chewed gum. It is a rare phobia and its most famous sufferer is probably Oprah Winfrey. Unafraid to air her dirty gum in public, she attributes the fear (like so many phobias) to a childhood event.

Although Oprah is now a billionaire, she grew up on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi, and lived with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, while her mother went to Wisconsin to find a job.

Her grandmother used to save used gum, perhaps triggering Oprah's phobia which is so great she prohibits her studio audience from chewing it.

Answer: Orlando Bloom

While Orlando Bloom is afraid of pigs (swinophobia), Johnny Depp, Daniel Radcliffe and Sean ('Diddy') Combs all have coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. Now you might ask why a profession bent on making people laugh can also be so disturbing to some. Coulrophobia has increased in recent decades, perhaps because of the portrayal of clowns in books and movies as evil, scary or supernatural; their features are all larger than life and their faces are hidden behind masks like characters from the horror films.

As Johnny Depp said: "Something about the painted face, the fake smile...a darkness lurking just under the surface...".

Answer: eggs

Alfred Hitchcock had ovaphobia i.e., fear of eggs - now, rational or irrational, it's hard to imagine what it could be about the 'incredible, edible egg' that could cause such fear and revulsion. In order to understand, I think it best to hear it directly from the 'Master of Suspense' himself: "I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red.

But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it". Horrifying?

Answer: Richard Nixon

Nosocomephobia comes from the Greek words 'nosokemeion' (hospital or infirmary) and 'phobos', which we all should know by now means excessive or irrational fear. Richard M. Nixon, the 34th president of the United States and the only one to ever resign from office, was so fearful of hospitals that, in 1974, when he suffered from a blood clot, he refused to be taken to the hospital for treatment; however, his doctors intervened, told him he would die if he didn't go and forced the issue.

This phobia is not uncommon and the reasoning behind this fear is (like a 'roach motel') once you go in, you never come out.

Answer: antique furniture

Apparently, Billy Bob Thorton is plagued by several phobias, i.e., coulrophobia, chromophobia (fear of bright or intense colors), plastic cutlery and antique furniture. Any furniture made before the 1950s freaks him out and he is unable to eat, drink or even breathe; I wonder if that means he has to travel with antique appraisers and carbon-dating experts? The incorrect choices are also phobias of the famous: ferns scared Sigmund Freud; the great scientist Nikola Tesla was frightened of jewelry and Nicole Kidman is afraid of butterflies. I guess everyone is scared of something!