Gelotophobia

[Dr. Goodword]

• gelotophobia •

Pronunciation: ji-lat-ê-fo-bi-ê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural)

Meaning: No, this word doesn't mean "fear of jello" (or any other gelatin); that would be gelatophobia, with an A in place of the O. Gelotophobia means "fear of being laughed at". This fear may be a serious social anxiety disorder or just what it means.

Notes: "Another phobia?" I hear you asking already. We all have mild gelotophobia, but in some people it goes too far and becomes a social anxiety disorder. The adjective for this word is gelotophobic or gelotophobical. Someone who doesn't like to be laughed at is a gelotophobe. I personally suffer from just the opposite: gelotophilia "the love of being laughed at".

In Play: Anyone who takes offence at being laughed about can now be called gelotophobic: "That humorless grump suffers from major gelotophobia." That grump is a gelotophobe; so is this president: "Don't let the president hear your jokes about him; he is seriously gelotophobic."

Word History: This word was compounded out of two Greek words, gelos, gelot- "laughter" + phobos "fear" + -ia, a noun suffix. Gelos comes from the PIE root ghel-/ghol- "to joke, be joyful", the same source provided English glee. Latin seems to have lost the L in its gaudere "to rejoice", as in gaudeamus igitur "so let us rejoice". Phobia comes from PIE bhegw- "to run", source also of Lithuanian bėgti "to run, flee" and Russian begat' "to run, flee". It also became bakjaz "stream" in Old Germanic. That word in Modern German is Bach. (Let's all now thank Rob Towart for rescuing this word from the narrow vocabulary of psychology.)

[Philip Hudson]

Gelotophobia might be something to laugh about but it may be a real problem to some. I unfortunately have a serious phobia. Agoraphobia is not fear of the Alpha Agora. You may Google the word for the definition. It drives me to stay at home rather than suffer panic attacks. It may be the result of living with the effects of having a stroke many years ago. It only gets worse as time goes by. It may be out of place to bare one's problems to this forum. If so, I apologize.

[Dr. Goodword]

Philip,

I did struggle a bit with this one, perhaps not enough. I knew it was a serious psychological problem for a few of us, but for most of us, it offered a funny side. Words are not some neat stack of features; they are rowdy scrambles of meanings that I struggled 40 years to make sense of.

That is why legalese, medical terminology, and other specialized terminologies exist. These specialties need a words that have strictly single meanings so that no possibility of confusion exists.

I'm glad your agoraphobia does not preclude your participation in our Agora, but I do understand that it and gelotophobia can be a serious disease. I probably should have listed that as a separate meaning rather than as a side note. I will fix that in the archive.

That is what the Alpha Agora is for.

[Philip Hudson]

Humor, even about serious problems, is almost always apt. Sometimes it helps us lighten-up. This forum is a blessing to me.