No where else to post this

[Cole Parker]

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day today is taphephobia. I found the definition a bit weird. They define it as an unnatural fear of being buried alive.

Now I ask you, why shouldn't one find the prospect of being buried alive frightening? I don't think there's anything unnatural about that at all. So I think the definition should be modified to read simply 'the fear of being buried alive.'

Glad we cleared that up.

C

[Merkin]

Corms, tubers, and some rhizomes enjoy being buried alive, and are antitaphephobic.

[Bruin Fisher]

Only anthropomorphic tubers enjoy it...

[Rutabaga]

The only thing I can figure is that it may refer to a situation where somebody inappropriately discerns a risk of being buried alive where any rational person would see no threat. In other words, the sight of a shovel, or of a bag of potting soil, might trigger the reaction.

R

[Cole Parker]

Amazing they'd have a word for something so specific. If what you say is true, I'd rather define the word as 'an irrational fear of potting soil.'

C

[ChrisR]

Perhaps intended more commonly for people who need to be medicated before they'll take a ride on The Tube.

[colinian]

Dictionary.com's Word of the Day today is taphephobia. I found the definition a bit weird. They define it as an unnatural fear of being buried alive.

Now I ask you, why shouldn't one find the prospect of being buried alive frightening? I don't think there's anything unnatural about that at all. So I think the definition should be modified to read simply 'the fear of being buried alive.'

Glad we cleared that up.

C

My dictionary (WordWeb) defines it better, I think: "A morbid fear of being buried alive." This adds more substance to the word. Also, 'morbid' goes with death more fittingly than 'unnatural' IMO.

Colin

[Gee Whillickers]

Story time, and it's even a Halloween story.

When I was a youngster, maybe nine or ten years old, right around Halloween my older brother bought a record (yeah, remember those?) that contained various horror sound effects. Each track was accompanied by a little description on the liner trying to dramatize the effects.

One of the tracks was of someone who had been buried alive. The sound was a man supposedly scratching the inside of a coffin while breathing hard, weeping, and screaming.

I remember reading the little blurb while listening to this in my brother's room.

I was horrified. Absolutely horrified. My imagination ran wild, and the vision in my head was disturbing in the way only a very badly scared child can be disturbed.

I had trouble sleeping for a day or two, and whenever my brother would bring the record came out I made myself scarce, immediately. It absolutely petrified me, the very notion of being buried alive.

I got over it, but every now and then something will remind me of that, and the wisp of a memory will come back and remind me how I felt back then, being deathly afraid of being buried alive with no hope.

So, yeah, thanks for the word of the day, Cole. Harumph.

[Cole Parker]

That's me, always trying to help my fellow man. Every little bit helps.

C