Arachnophobia

[TheEarl]

Just thought I'd start a new thread so as not to hijack SMUK's dream thread. This one's about the weirdness of arachnophobia and how people deal. The promise of a virtual smack for the first person to say "They can't hurt you, you know" or "They're more scared of you than you are of them" still holds true though.

Funny how these things seem interconnected, isn't it? I sometimes dream that a man I don't know, someone named "The Duke," or "The Viscount," or sometimes "The Baron," is attacked in his home by spiders but fends them off with some sort of wrench, or pliars.



Just remember: as long as they can't see you, you can't see them. Or is it the other way around...?

P.S. You may want to give "Return of the King" a miss.

Hand me the wrench will you? Speaking of the 'they can't see you, you can't see them' thing, I have actually had quite a bit of success with self-hypnotism by forcing myself to believe that that spider I just saw doesn't really exist. It's an exension of 'If I don't look at it, then it's not really there' and can work really quite well. Anyone else tried this?

Seen Return of the King aided by friend who'd seen it before and told me when not to look.

The Earl

 

[MathGirl]

Dear Earl,
Good to hear from you. Arachnophobia? I've yet to meet a spider that could withstand a sharp smack from a rolled up SF Chronicle. A tarantula would make one helluva mess, though.
MG
Ps. I hope that wasn't Spider Man I tran over with my car.

 

[shereads]

My own bug-gy fear is of earthworms.

Yep.

Not afraid of spiders or snakes - mind you, I don't want them slithering around on me when they're hungry or pissed off, but if you define a phobia as an unreasonable fear and the thing I couldn't see enlarged on a movie screen chasing Frodo, mine would be earthworms.

And I can trace the existence of my phobia. I was 4 or 5, admiring my new bright red rainboots and stomping around in puddles on the sidewalk when I spotted an enormously long, fat earthworm (or so it seemed then, and seems in memory).

With the thoughtless cruelty of a child empowered by red boots, I stepped on it - but instead of dying, it curled up around my foot and wriggled and I screamed like a little girl!

Well, I was a little girl. But to this day, the sight of an earthworm makes me cringe. I might have majored in a science and lived a productive life if not for the earthworm phobia, because when our high school biology teacher showed us the fat giant ones we were supposed to dissect, I couldn't go near it. Made my lab partner do the work and tell me about it later, and made my lowest high school grade as a result.

Imagine, The Earl, if you could have gone into any profession you desired and been guaranteed a fulfilling career, if only you dissected a giant spider.

You see why I couldn't become a marine biologist and travel the world with the Cousteau Foundation?

My phobia was guilt-induced. Any idea where yours came from?

---------

btw: I borrowed from "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" series, wherein Douglas Addams describes a predatory alien creature whose deadliness is effectively countered by its lack of intelligence. It's the only creature so stupid, "it thinks that if you can't see it, it can't see you."

 

[Guest]

 

[shereads]

My first deliberate double-post

Coincidentally posted this last night to MG's Dictionary.

ARACHNIHOLE: An in-ground hiding place, also known as a "spider hole."

ARACHNIT: The subspecies of louse which typically infests the beards and body hair of arachnihole dwellers.

ARRGH!ACHNIPHOBIA: A fear of eight-legged pirates.

 

[TheEarl]

My phobia was guilt-induced. Any idea where yours came from?

---------

btw: I borrowed from "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" series, wherein Douglas Addams describes a predatory alien creature whose deadliness is effectively countered by its lack of intelligence. It's the only creature so stupid, "it thinks that if you can't see it, it can't see you."

The ravenous bug-blatter beast of Traal if memory serves correctly. Love those books.

No idea where my arachnophobia came from. However, spiders have led me to a rather strange fear of tomatos. I used to love eating tomatos and just picked them out of a fruit bowl in the kitchen. That was until one day I picked up a tomato, bit into it and a spider crawled over the top of it to stare at me. Actually don't remember what happened next, but next thing I knew I was out in the hall, tomatoless, with the kitchen door firmly shut. I don't really eat tomatos whole anymore as I don't enjoy them that much. Weird how the brain works.

Anyone else got strange phobias like that?

The Earl

 

[Black Tulip]

I'm not sure you could call it a phobia, but I am scared stiff of horses. I know, they are beautiful, but in my case from a very, very big distance.
As a little girl I fell and had one standing over me stamping just next to my head. Or was it just on?

I don't like spiders, but I do not start yelling until they are really big. You know, the black hairy ones that crawl into the bath tub. Makes my son laugh his head off.

 

[Linbido]

I can't say that I have anarchophbia, although anything insect-like tends to gross me out, it diesn't scare me. But I understand what they go through with everyone telling them "hey, they are not dangerous". I get that alot for my phobia:

Dogs.

And I don't mean all dogs, not small silly ones like poodles, chiuauas and pugs...

But real Canis beasts, like german shepherds, golden retrievers, pitbulls, labradors... Dogs that physically could kick my ass, instead of the other way around. I fear them. I don't trust them, unless I've gotten to know them very well, and I don't trust their owners unless I know them too.

Pepole say "Oh, Brutus just wants to play.". Oh really, is that why he shows his TEETH?!

Or how about "He's only agressive if he sense that you're afraid". Well, too fucking late!

I feel that, compared to many other, mine, and also Tulip's horse aversion have some justification. These are animals big enough to harm you. I'll bed I'd be scared stiff next to a giraffe too. I'm told they are pretty mean.

Needless to say, I'm more of a cat person.

 

[SlaveMasterUK]

I used to suffer from arachnaphobia that I think I picked up from my mum, who is terrified of spiders. My dad doesn't seem to like them very much either but it was always his job to catch them when I was a kid.

These days they don't bother me too much. I don't like them in my bedroom and if I found one, I'd remove it ASAP. I also don't like the thought of them running over my face at night and sometimes jump up in a cold sweat if I hear something land on my pillow (usually my hair).

A mate of mine is absolutely petrified - and I mean goes white as a sheet and freezes solid when he sees a big black wolf spider. Back in the summer I arrived at his house just as he found a huge one in his bedroom, and had to act all brave and jovial as I tactfully removed it with a glass and a postcard

I'm not really frightened of anything else unless it's very close to me. I don't trust anything from insects to cats if they're right in front of my face.

I'm a dog person and have two gorgeous German Shepherds, one of which would probably tear someone to shreds if she thought they were going to harm the family but is as docile as a pillow at any other time. I'm typically not afraid of any dog no matter how loud or fierce, provided I know its owner.

That said, a few months back I was passing a lamp-post in Bristol City centre and didn't realise until I was a few paces away that there were two extremely heavy-looking bulldogs tied around it. I tried to change course but at the last minute they both burst out barking - I jumped out of my skin, much to the mirth of my companions... I think that's as much that I have a real problem with sudden noises as any dog phobia.

ax

 

[Black Tulip]

As a matter of fact, giraffes are very gentle. I know, because I have this tendency to go where I don't belong in the zoo. (Horses are about the only big animals I'm afraid of.) So I ended up near the inner railing of the giraffe's territory once. We had a good look at the beasts and turned around to leave, when all of a sudden one of them bent his long neck and gave me a humongous lick with his tongue from my chin to the top of my head.

It was gross I tell you. I smelled of rotten grass the rest of the day, not to mention the state of my hair. Yuk. Of course my family never stopped laughing and my kid thought I was the best mom ever. Getting kissed by a giraffe!

 

[Linbido]

As a matter of fact, giraffes are very gentle.

They attack more people than lions do. In the wild, that is. But that's probably mainly because too many tourists are not smart enough to stay away from them when they have kids that they feel they need to defend.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Pop Quiz!

What is the only film (so far) that has been given a label warning people with arachnophobia that this film contains scenes that might scare them?



















Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 

[SlaveMasterUK]

And what if she's wrong?

Well, someone would get bit, wouldn't they?

ax

 

[Linbido]

Well, someone would get bit, wouldn't they?

Xactly. I'll stick to hamsters. They leave smaller wounds.

 

[shereads]

Xactly. I'll stick to hamsters. They leave smaller wounds.

Not if there were hundreds of hamsters.

 

[Linbido]

Not if there were hundreds of hamsters.

Ah, yes. There is always that of course. Then they don't even have to bite. Thay can just fluff you to death.

 

[shereads]

Could we blame the hamsters? I was shopping for pet food yesterday and of course there was a mad rush to take home small fluffy victims for children to squeeze and neglect ("George, get me a hamster...I will hug him and hug him...")

I always stop and say a silent prayer for those animals when I'm in the pet store, just in case there's a God...I pray for them to be able to blank out and at least dream that their lives are not a hideous series of torments...I loved animals, and my hamsters still lived godawful lives...

Parents, please don't trust your children to take good care of their hamsters. Check the water dish once in a while. Also: those two female hamsters they sold you at the pet shop? Ha.

Suppose you dreamed you were the pet of a small child? And then you woke up and it was true! Hamster would probably be the worst: your cute fuzzy body is just the right size to fit in the kid's sweaty little fist, with only your face showing. You can be carried around for hours like that.

 

[MathGirl]

I'm not afraid of large animals, in fact I find them very interesting. To see why, you might read "At the Zoo." It's short and instructive.
MG
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=95390

 

[shereads]

Since I don't even trust my own judgement on many things, I'm not going to trust that of a large, sharp toothed predator when it comes to things like that. ]

Linbido, I posted this is the X-Mas Gifts thread before I realized it could be just the thing to help you know the difference between a growly-smile and a howdy-smile when confronted with a fanged friend. From the Sharper Image:

Bow-Lingual, The Dog Translator
#TK100BLU
__ $99.95

Sophisticated Bow-Lingual Dog Translator turns "woofs" into words!

* Understand what your "best friend" is trying to communicate.
* Mic transmits barks to the wireless receiver.
* Barks are digitized into voice prints.
* Displays one of six emotions.