10 October 2016

Coulrophobia


Coulrophobia explained.

And the etymology:
A neologism, coined in the late 1980s or 1990s. Supposedly based on Ancient Greek κωλοβαθριστής ‎(kōlobathristḗs, one who goes on stilts) (from κωλόβαθρον ‎(kōlóbathron, stilt), from κῶλον ‎(kôlon, limb) + βαίνω ‎(baínō, I go), chosen for lack of an obvious Ancient Greek equivalent of "clown", combined with the -phobia ‎(fear of) suffix.
Cartoon via Jobsanger.

3 comments:

  1. I saw the title and immediately thought it had something to do with Ann Coulter.
    Scares me anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How on Earth does one choose to corrupt kolobathristes into coulro-? That's about as un-Greek as it gets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh ;) Seems I'm not the only one:

      "Coulrophobia looks suspiciously like the sort of thing idle pseudo-intellectuals invent on the internet and which every smarty-pants takes up thereafter"

      Delete