Anyone got anything they're needlessly terrified of? I am really scared of sharks for absolutely no reason, to the extent that walking through Birmingham this morning I was given a start by an electronic billboard switching to a poster for The Meg (the shark film obviously, not the Megazine)
I've never had a bad experience with a shark but I can't even bring myself to get in the sea just in case.
I'm afraid of fear, and not just my own.
Small dogs.
Big dogs scare me for perfectly sensible reasons: they are carnivores of unpredictable temper and they have sets of big sharp teeth roughly on a level with my groin. But it's the little feckers at ankle level that unnerve me for some unfathomable reason, no matter how well-behaved they might be.
As for sharks, the paperback of Jaws was everywhere when I was small and when well-meaning people were trying to introduce me to salt water. I'm not afraid of sharks per se, but deep water you can keep. I'm fine with heights, but depths give me the heebie-jeebies if I contemplate them too long.
Dark rooms used to freak me out when I was small too, but I grew out of that one. Big, old, and ugly as I am, I reckon I'm the most dangerous thing in any given dark room, and if woken in the night, I'm sour-tempered enough to give even The Thing That Waits For You On The Landing a run for its money.
(And for the love of God, Sharky, could you please give the disturbing AI avatars a rest and go back to that nice animation that Carlos drew for you?)
Quote from: JohnW on 18 July, 2023, 12:32:50 PM(And for the love of God, Sharky, could you please give the disturbing AI avatars a rest and go back to that nice animation that Carlos drew for you?)
Hell no! I made hundreds of the things and I don't intend to waste a single one of them.
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 18 July, 2023, 12:16:19 PMAnyone got anything they're needlessly terrified of?
And now, rereading your post, I see I've given the wrong answer. I was talking about phobias when you were talking about terror.
The correct answer is mortality – the inevitable end for me and everyone I care for.
The how, the when, and the what order just don't bear thinking about, so I don't on the whole.
So rather than drag the thread into such gloomy regions, I instead invite you all to contemplate spiders of grotesque size and malevolent intelligence. You never know – there might be one waiting for you in one of the kitchen cupboards.
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 18 July, 2023, 12:59:39 PMHell no! I made hundreds of the things and I don't intend to waste a single one of them.
Damn. That's what I was afraid of.
I don't think mortality is a needless terror. It's entirely justified.
As an adult you kinda know everyone you love is going to die, but I can pinpoint the first time it started happening as a point my world changed forever.
That is gloomy though, I was hoping for something more like "I've a mortal fear of macrame" or something
Last time I was in hospital, having stents fitted, I micro-died three times. It was dead easy. Now, after that practice run, I'm not afraid of death at all. I don't want to die, obviously (things to do!), but it's gonna happen sooner or later so why worry?
But what if your death involves macramé?
And spiders?
Quote from: Barrington Boots on 18 July, 2023, 12:16:19 PMAnyone got anything they're needlessly terrified of? I am really scared of sharks for absolutely no reason, to the extent that walking through Birmingham this morning I was given a start by an electronic billboard switching to a poster for The Meg (the shark film obviously, not the Megazine)
With you
exactly on this. Weirdly, I can't work out precisely what collection of visual cues triggers the response. For example, the CGI sharks in
Deep Blue Sea — I can watch that without any real issues. Clearly, in the process of designing the creatures, someone decided to make them
more scary than real sharks and, in doing so, managed eliminate whatever-it-is that sets off my response. Bruce, in
Finding Nemo, however, retains enough of whatever-it-is to trigger at least a low-level shudder despite being in no way an attempt to render a realistic shark.
Very odd...
There's nothing irrational about being scared of sharks.
Spiders though.... just the thought of them puts me in panic mode, and I have to go around checking there's not one in the room with me. I *definitely* cannot visit Australia. Ever.
Quote from: Woolly on 18 July, 2023, 04:11:41 PMThere's nothing irrational about being scared of sharks.
In Birmingham?
Quote from: Woolly on 18 July, 2023, 04:11:41 PMThere's nothing irrational about being scared of sharks.
Not
actual sharks, no... but to be literally terrfied of pictures/video when, rationally, I know there is no way that I can be harmed...
I once developed a morbid fear of telephones. This had a perfectly reasonable origin, in that I had a stressful job and demanding clients, but it took years of happy unemployment before I stopped flinching every time I heard a particular ring tone. At its worst, this aversion could actually cause a sort of paralysis whereby it took an effort of will to pick up the receiver.
Not as good as sharks in the English midlands, I'll admit.
It's got more canals than venice, Birmingham. Just much crappier canals.
Watch out then.
A motivated shark can swim up the crappiest canal.
And that reminds me of my long-ago short-lived fear of bridges. This was no doubt an extension of my terror of deep water, awakened by the evil state of the river that I crossed on my way to school.
What if the bridge just collapsed when I was halfway over? Nothing could save me. Down I'd go with all the crashing stone into the cold green water.
Lots of river in my town.
Lots of bridges.
Any number of opportunities to die horribly.
I saw this fear written by someone or other on the Internet and now it's passed on to me. Those of a squeamish disposition should not continue.
You're walking past spiked railings on a frosty day and suddenly you slip. You land face first on the spikes and two are driven into your eyes. So, impaled optically on the railings, you struggle to pull yourself up. But it's still icy, so the more your struggle the more your feet slide about so you just have to stay there.
Sorry.
Quote from: JohnW on 18 July, 2023, 10:23:20 PMA motivated shark can swim up the crappiest canal.
Pretty sure it's only bull sharks that can tolerate fresh water to any degree and, even where we are with climate change, we're a long way off bull sharks being able to live in the UK's coastal waters (even before the current deluge of Tory-enabled sewage dumping).
Damn it, Jim!
I'm trying to stoke irrational fears here and you come along with your facts and your reason and everything.
Quote from: JohnW on 18 July, 2023, 10:41:06 PMI'm trying to stoke irrational fears here and you come along with your facts and your reason and everything.
This fact, however, is one more reason to never, ever go to Australia. The land is full of insanely deadly spiders, the sea is full of sharks (and box jellyfish), and the fresh water is full of crocodiles
and sharks that can swim upstream from the sea.
Plus, y'know, Australians. ;)
I'm afraid of Australia.
Not the people or anything particularly about it.
Just Australia.
I will not be elaborating.
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 19 July, 2023, 10:13:37 AMI'm afraid of Australia.
Not the people or anything particularly about it.
Just Australia.
The tectonic plate on which Australia sits is shifting northwards at a rate of seven centimetres a year.
AUSTRALIA IS SNEAKING UP ON YOU!
Quote from: JohnW on 19 July, 2023, 12:07:49 PMQuote from: Hawkmumbler on 19 July, 2023, 10:13:37 AMI'm afraid of Australia.
Not the people or anything particularly about it.
Just Australia.
The tectonic plate on which Australia sits is shifting northwards at a rate of seven centimetres a year.
AUSTRALIA IS SNEAKING UP ON YOU!
I read about this recently, didn't they have to update all the GPS maps recently because the whole feckin continent was outside the system's tolerances for error?
I was surprised by the same billboard this morning. Strolling along with my mind elsewhere, and suddenly a whacking great shark in front of me. FFS!