Do You Have a Phobia?

At some point in our lives, we may have a phobia. Mine was fear of snakes called Ophidiophobia. By grace, it disappeared somewhere along the way.   

There are over 500 named phobias today. 

Going through the list, I was surprised that I may be suffering from one! Guess what it is . . .

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

All of 37 characters say it is fear of long words. In the beginning, this fear was considered jocular or fictional; however, it was proven to be real. Researching further, I discovered that 15 million Americans have it!  

People suffering from . . . (I am unable to spell it again) experience anxiety when faced with long words. How ironic that the name given to this phobia is such a looong one.

Why so long? The explanation is even longer. 

The word is broken down into several parts: 

    • Hippo is horse in Greek and potam-os is river. Thus, the first part of the word refers to a water horse also known as hippopotamus. The Oxford Dictionary says that this animal’s name comes from the word hippopotamine, referring to “something very large;” 

      

    • the word monstr is the Latin origin of a "monstrous being" or something that is huge or terrifying;

      

    • sesquippedalio is derived from Latin sesquippedali meaning "measuring a foot and a half long;"  

      

    • phobos, of course, stands for morbid fear. 

As a book author and writing coach, and once a college prof in Critical Writing, and now also an English Module trainor in Medical Transcription, I am an advocate for short or small words. 

I believe they are more compelling, as well as clearer, because they are often concrete. They describe and express actual things rather than rhetorical ideas. Short words help readers visualize our information so they grasp it faster and remember it longer. 

George Orwell’s advice is sound: “Never use a long word where a short one will do.”

My own line to explain write clearly, “What you mean and what the reader understands should be exactly the same!”  

I don’t go into a fit or hyperventilate when I see a long word. But I make sure (trying all tricks available, no matter how long it takes) that the writer changes it into a short one.