[Ads-l] Santaphobia

[Barretts Mail]

Today, _Vice_ is running an article by Emalie Marthe titled “Why Kids Are Unreasonably Terrified of Santa Claus” (http://bit.ly/2gtvmjB <http://bit.ly/2gtvmjB>).

I had never thought about this before, but it makes sense given how widespread coulrophobia is.

The online Oxford Dictionaries do not have “Santaphobia.”

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Santaphobia <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Santaphobia>) has it to 1997, labeling it as humorous.

1. The first occurrence I see in Google Books is December 1908 in an article by Henry Goodwin Smith in the magazine _The Unitarian_. It refers to taking the joy out of Christmas by not advocating for the existence of Santa Claus, however, not a fear such as coulrophobia.
goo.gl/0WUCXv <http://goo.gl/0WUCXv>

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Santaphobia is a symptom of a defective imagination, not of a superior conscience.
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2. The next appearance and the first with the modern meaning I see in Google Books is 1985 or 1986, in a play (http://bit.ly/2hjlBEo <http://bit.ly/2hjlBEo>), author and title unknown. It is cited in _The Best Plays of 1985-1986_.

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… memories are of his sister Phyllis crying in terror at the ... that Father Christmas might barge into her room. “Santaphobia” is his term for it.
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Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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