No, that’s not the title of a Lovecaft story. It’s something that you yourself may suffer from. Many people have fears of things–phobias–that they don’t know the clinical names for. Any such fear is, for that person, a nameless fear.
It sometimes happens that a person has a fear of something very, very specific, and they may thing "There can’t be a special name for this phobia," but you might be surprised.
Let’s give a name to a fear that many people have but don’t know the name of.
Yesterday was June 6, 2006, or 6/6/06.
I did a blog post about it.
The post was titled 666.
Did you find yourself scrolling down past that post quickly? Avoiding looking at it? Did it make you feel nervous?
If so, then you have
HEXAKOSIOIHEXEKONTAHEXAPHOBIA.
If you need that syllabificated, it’s
Hex-a-ko-si-oi-hex-e-kon-ta-hex-a-pho-bi-a.
And now that fear ain’t nameless anymore.
I stopped fearing it long ago, if I ever did. It blipped onto my radar a couple times yesterday, only because I was half-expecting to get an E-mail or two about it.
First, I couldn’t find a satisfactory explanation in line with Catholicism for why a mere number should hold the kind of significance many people attribute to it, no matter what the number stood for. Or for that matter, why a number automatically opens the door to the powers of evil on a certain date just because the date that shares the same digits as a number representing an evil figure, might roll around. Why a date?
If such a connection is significant enough that I should be fearful, then I wanted a well-reasoned, rational explanation for the significance of the connection. You can’t just go around making loose connections with numbers and dates and quantities without a rational explanation for the significance of one connection over the infinitely possible connections one could make.
“666 is the number of the beast/Nero/devil, and now we have a date with the same digits!”. Okay, that’s a connection a weak, “so what” connection, but a connection nonetheless. But what follows, “Therefore we must panic because it’s the day of the beast/devil/Nero because they’re evil and that means evil will be unleashed unto the world.” is where rationality goes out the window. Why is a date significant? Why is any of that a rational conclusion to make from this connection?
There are all sorts of irrational connections you can make with numbers and dates and I wanted to know why this one was supposedly more worthy of attention, and not a simple matter of superstition. We were never told that this number should be connected with dates, weights, liquid capacities, or what have you, and that we should fear certain unleashed powers of evil on dates, weights, volumes, etc. which share the same digits as this number.
I certainly do not believe that a number has this kind of power over people, no matter what it stands for. Like every day, June 6, 2006 is another day that the Lord made and it belonged to the Lord. (It was beautiful here.) The only way you can give such a powerless thing as a number connection some actual power over you, is to believe it’s more significant than it is. That’s superstition.
And now that fear ain’t nameless anymore.
No, but good luck trying to pronounce it! Even with the syllabic breakdown, I can barely get it out.
Yesterday was so busy at work, I didn’t even really notice. I wasn’t afraid.
What happens will happen, and we will face it when it comes.
“When they had gathered together they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going 4 to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.” Acts 1:6-7
My nameless fear is dying before my children grow up. I have a few health problems. I want so much for them to have an intact family and we are so attached! That is really my only nameless fear–anyone know that name for that?
The fear of hexes? Why not call it “Triplehexaphobia”? Kind of like, triskaidekaphobia.
But what do you call the fear of truly G~d-awful, cacophonic words?
Was listening to the radio yesterday (the 6th) and a woman was on talknig about how in Japan they’re afraid of the number 4 and don’t have a 4th floor in a lot of buildings. The wikipedia article on Triskaidekaphobia discusses this and problems the Italians have with the number 17.
I’m personally afraid of spelling bee’s. Could you imagine having to spell one of these puppies in front of a row of judjes?!
Is there a name for the fear of fear itself?
JR… wouldn’t that be phobia-a-phobia?
“And now that fear ain’t nameless anymore.”
I believe that the correct grammar would be:
“And now that fear ain’t nameless NOmore.”
Jimmy, “syllabificated” is not a word, according to dictionary.com. The word you were looking for is “syllabicated.” 🙂