Fear Of Long Words Is The Proof That Letters Can Hurt Us
Some people, believe it or not, are afraid of words. But not words that are frightening by their meaning – for example, “Zombie” or “Death” – but words that are simply long. There is a somewhat idiosyncratic term that describes a fear of ng words, and its name is even a threatening word with something like 30 letters – I tried to count several times until I almost started cutting the veins – which would have made the fear even bigger.
This article will discuss the fear of long words, identify its roots and potential symptoms, and offer ways to overcome it. You are welcome to read the following words – hopefully, they are not too long – and try to decide if it’s some joke, a regular fear, or even a phobia.
What Is The Fear Of Long Words?
A phobia, on a general level, is an extreme fear arising from a specific event or situation, even when there is no tangible danger. A phobia may be related to one particular factor (for example, fear of dogs or fear of clowns, about which we have already written on the website), and its possible consequences are physical and mental symptoms, which may cause behavioral changes, such as excessive avoidance of the object of the phobia.
Sometimes, we use the word “phobia” in a generic way, that is, to describe negative feelings, rejection, or even hatred towards something, even if it does not have the direct symptoms we identify with a phobia. According to some theories, fear of long words comes into play at this exact point. You’ll find this fear on almost every list of the weirdest phobias out there, and you might think to yourself that there’s no way anyone is afraid of the monstrous object to such an extent.
What Is The Fear Of Long Words Called?
The “scientific” word for fear of long words, Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, is a long and complex word that adds a dimension of irony to the phenomenon. You can see it as a “joke” of theorists because what is more amusing than calling a person’s fear of long and complicated words a very long and complex term that also seems like the beginning of a joke?
So, why is the fear of long words called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia? And how many letters are in the fear of long words term? Well, This term, 36 letters long in English (there are dictionaries in which it is the longest word), may seem at first glance like a combination of unrelated letters, but the truth is that there is a specific intention behind it. You might understand the meaning if you write the word letter by letter (good luck with that!). If you, like me, prefer to save a few precious minutes of your life and make a copy and paste, which avoids the need for this crazy typing, we will say that the common term for fear of long words consists of several parts, in Latin and Greek:
- Hippopotamus – Actually, the term combines the words “hippo” – below and “potamus” – river. In his case, a relatively long word
- Monster (Mosntrous) – monstrous, horrible,
- Sesquipedalian (in Latin) – the length measure means “a foot and a half,” or if we stick to the direct literal interpretation, then “an especially long word“
- Phobia – from Greek, “fear”
If we could explain the poet’s intention in words, without the fear of long words pronunciation, the answer would be something like “Fear of long and monstrous words. Yes, like a hippopotamus.”
Is Fear Of Long Words Common?
According to this theory, long words will not necessarily lead to the same extreme feelings and symptoms that we identify with a phobia. Fear should not interfere too much with our daily functioning. But it’s not that simple because today, many experts claim that the fear of long words should not be underestimated, as bizarre as it may seem on paper. Moreover, it can be a problem that requires diagnosis and treatment.
From an academic point of view, this phobia is not independent and certainly not recognized by mental health experts and institutions, such as the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Despite this, they do pay attention to it, usually as part of a broader anxiety, especially social anxiety.
According to the DSM-5, the American psychiatric diagnostic book, social phobia is defined as such when several conditions are met:
- Fear or anxiety of social situations in which the person feels that he may stand a test, such as conducting a conversation
- The fear or anxiety is disproportionate to the threat (social, in this case)
- The fear or anxiety is persistent, so the person avoids social situations
- The fear, anxiety, or avoidance of the situations that cause them may cause clinical distress
Here, it is already possible to understand the problem of fear of long words. We must remember that although human communication has changed or even deteriorated over the past decades – we are all on our phones, using abbreviations, emojis, and other nonsense – communication is still the basis of our daily conduct. Quite a few long words surround us, and those exposed to texts in different languages may experience this difficulty more than others.
Fear of long words is more than “just” difficulty in reading, writing, or pronouncing, which various reasons can cause. More and more experts treat the fear of long words as a real phobia, as it may affect the behavior of anyone who suffers from it. The frightening object, which in this case is long or complex words that we encounter in writing or text, may cause symptoms associated with fears, anxieties, and phobias, such as increased sweating, increased heart rate, shortness of breath, tremors, a feeling of weakness, nausea, dizziness, nausea, stomach aches and so on.
What Causes The Fear Of Long Words?
Leaving aside the cynicism that may appear when talking about a tangible fear of words, we can claim that, like any fear or phobia – there are quite a few reasons that explain how it develops and when it appears. After all, a person is not born with fears, and they may grow in him over the years, gradually or even following a one-time event. Take, for example, a person who, as a child, went on a giant wheel in an amusement park, but the wheel got stuck for a few minutes strictly at the peak height. Beyond the anger and the desire to sue the amusement park managers, the person may develop a fear of the ferris wheel in a particular scenario.
In this case, potential causes include:
- Traumatic experiences from the past – for example, a student who was humiliated in class when he failed to read a long word in front of the students, or a failure in a test whose leading cause is a lack of understanding of one or other complex words Words related to an experience that is not necessarily verbal, for example, an incident of violence
- Learning disabilities – may explain our difficulty in dealing with long words and contribute to the development of fear
- Insecurity, whether social or intellectual. If a person fears that somebody will judge him negatively for the way he uses certain complex words, he may develop a fear of them
- Cultural influences – we live in an era of shortcuts, mainly thanks to our need to do everything quickly and with as little effort as possible. Under these conditions, a person may fear how he will be perceived when he uses long words and avoid it
- Genetics – fear of long words is probably not inherited, but anxieties, phobias, and other mental conditions are. People with a genetic predisposition to anxiety may quickly develop specific phobias, including phobias that do not seem obvious to us
- Changes in brain activity, for various reasons, may develop multiple phobias – including fear of short or long words
A person who is afraid of long words, and even more so, one who is worried or avoids them, may find that it has specific effects on his daily routine. The most apparent effect is difficulties in studies, but the picture continues. The person may encounter difficulty or even avoid professions that require dealing with complex texts, experience difficulties in communicating with certain people (for example, those who use high words in advance), experience a decrease in his self-confidence (the feeling that he is “stupid”), avoid various texts that may contribute to development his (such as newspapers, books or horror films, which are known to be educational and very important) and more.
How To Deal With Fear Of Long Words
Whether you treat the fear of long words sarcastically or whether you are ready to put it in the same category as other feelings of fear and phobias (among us, unique and equally bizarre causes of anxiety we know today), you will want to see what you can do to improve the situation.
The ways of treating fear – and for the hundredth time, our recommendation is to try to keep the cynicism aside – include the methods known today to deal with fears, such as:
✅ Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): This method helps to identify and change negative thought patterns associated with long words that can cause behavioral changes
✅ Gradual exposure – gradually dealing with long words, from the easiest to the most complex, under professional assistance
✅ Relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation. It can mainly control the physical symptoms of anxiety, often regardless of its cause
✅ Improving reading skills – if the problem is related to difficulty in these skills, learning disability specialists can improve the situation
✅ Regular practice
✅ Work on self-confidence and a sense of competence
✅ Medications: You can treat anxiety symptoms with medication. Again, in our opinion, the chances that fear of long words will cause this need are meager to non-existent, but in theory, this possibility exists
In conclusion, fear of long words, or hypophotomonstroussquipedaliophobia, is a term that many refer to mainly as a curiosity, as an amusing term to describe a social or cultural avoidance of words. According to quite a few experts, on the other hand, it should be treated as a fear of anything and everything that may affect the lives of those who experience it. Remember that this fear can be dealt with and treated with the help of various tools, so you don’t have to keep it short.
