phobophilia

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Feb 14 21:28:01 UTC 2010


Not to be (safely) confused with philophobia, the fear of (or
antipathy toward) pleasure.  Then there's phobophobia, the target of
FDR's warning.  And the much more pleasant philophilia.

LH

At 3:28 PM -0500 2/14/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:


>Not in OED.
>
>1907 Joseph Grasset _The Semi-Insane and the Semi-Responsible_ (trans. S. E.
>Jelliffe) (N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls) 149: J. Roux includes _phobophilia_ with
>this, "a disease of those who can find sexual emotion only through fear."
>
>1979 in Francis H. Thompson _The Frustration of Politics_  (Rutherford,
>N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson U.P.) 117:  They suffered what one critic
>described as phobophilia: They were in love with their enemy.
>
>1982 Robin Morgan _Depth Perception_ (N.Y.: Anchor Books) 26: Phobophilia
>[title]. Do you smell smoke? / If you don't, it's not / because a tenement
>isn't burning- / down the street, in Derry, Beirut, or San Salvador.
>
>1992 Brenda Love _The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices_  (Ft. Lee,
>N.J.:Barricade Books) 211:
>The most common form of phobophilia is the type where a couple has sex in a
>public place, risking discovery (agoraphilia).
>
>1995 Penn Jillette & Teller _Phobophilia: The Love of Fear_ (film).
>
>18,000 RGs.
>
>
>"A love of fear or of a source of fear, often as a source of sexual
>stimulation."
>
>JL
>.--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list