I had known that fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia and today, I learnt that fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia.
The pleasure of learning this new word is all the more enjoyable for having learnt it from an article written by a favourite author of mine Bibek Debroy whose magnum opus, a ten set volume of The Mahabharatha is among my cherished collection of books.
BD’s full article, a very readable one can be found here.
I am not superstitious and do not suffer from either triskaideskaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. It however is a matter of fact that my wife died on a Friday the thirteenth.
Have you experienced any such incidents in your life?
I’ve never experienced any bad luck on Friday the Thirteenth, and I’m not a superstitious person. I do all the things that are supposed to bring you bad luck without any adverse consequences. But surely someone could have come up with a simpler word than friggatriskaidekaphobia? It doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue.
Yes, it would have been easier to use a shorter word instead of this tongue-twister.
No, I have not, but that surely is a mouthful of word!
That it is indeed.
I’m glad I’ve not had to speak of this fear and then put it into a word. However, I have faced a lot of fears during this pandemic and some of them are still WIP 🙂
Welcome to the club Catherine. I think that all of us have fears related to the current pandemic.