Comments on: Hate http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/hate/ A blog mostly about language Wed, 22 May 2013 15:46:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Rick Sprague http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/hate/#comment-29336 Sat, 11 Aug 2012 01:30:19 +0000 http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/?p=11548#comment-29336 Photophobia is an exception. I’ve never heard it used as a diagnostic term for an anxiety disorder, and if it were it would probably mean you couldn’t bring yourself to go outside in the daylight, even with sunglasses, because of an irrational fear of, say, skin cancer. (It wouldn’t be because of a fear of being seen–that would be diagnosed as agoraphobia or a social phobia.) So the ophthalmological term isn’t just a use, it’s the only meaning of photophobia, as far as I know.

With respect to etymological fallacy, it’s always struck me as delightfully ironic that “homophobia” should mean “fear of the same”. That is, a homophobe’s aversion would, etymologically speaking, stem from a fear of his or her own homosexual feelings–a conclusion that is sometimes true despite being fallaciously deduced. I’ve always liked the word for that reason.

]]> By: Julian C. Lander http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/hate/#comment-29273 Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:59:08 +0000 http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/?p=11548#comment-29273 Relevant to -phobia in general: I’m not sure whether this is standard, but my ophthalmologist refers to me as photophobic even though my sensitivity to bright light is not the result of disease or another problem with my eyes. It’s mild (I tolerate indoor lights fine), but I never could deal with bright sunlight without sunglasses. So that ‘s a use in which -phobia refers to something no stronger than discomfort.

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