Monday, April 21, 2008

Bananaphobia

There once was a man who was afraid of bananas. There are common and uncommon phobias, and while bananaphobia may be an uncommon one, it's a phobia nonetheless. You might find the idea of a fear of bananas funny, but to this man it was no laughing matter. He was more afraid of bananas than he was of snakes, heights, or even death itself. Any time he saw a banana the man would scream, "Eek! A banana!"--and run away.

This man had many enemies, and when they found out about his phobia they began to taunt him with bananas. But it wasn't only his enemies who taunted him with bananas. Sometimes his enemies would hire banana hit men to taunt him. Everywhere this man would go, he'd see strangers walking around with bananas. Sometimes they'd be eating them, and sometimes they would just carry them around, menacingly. And if that weren't enough, he noticed that many new fruit stands were opening near his home and place of work, all prominently displaying their bananas, clearly in order to make his life a living hell.

It's not as if the man lacked perspective, though. I'm just afraid of bananas, he thought. There are plenty of real nuts out there.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a phobia of bananas and it is actually a living nightmare and can control my life. I shudder and start sweating when I fear that a banana has touched me and will have to scrub my hands seriously hard to make sure there is no smell on them. It's a nightmare.

4:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have this phobia in real life as well. So much so that I will NOT type, write or say the word. If I need to let my husband know something about it, I say "the B's", and he gets it. Even just thinking about them makes me feel grossed out and creepy.

7:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have this and i made the mistake if telling my friends. The locked me in a room full of them and i passed out. The worst experience of my life

11:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have this problem too. I have to tell people so they dont eat them around me.
I changed the angle slightly. I told them that the smell makes me physically sick (well noone wants to see that) so I can avoid them a lot of the time.
It is incredibly embarrassing to suddenly have to dart out of a room and realise that eventually you have to return and explain why.

11:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

im really scared and have been since i was very young and all my friends think im making it up or am just being silly. its horrible, ive learnt to be in a room with unpeeled ones but cant bear people eating them. its ridiculous i know but really horrible

8:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i also have this to the point where i can't touch banana's and really dont like the sight of them. the smell and people eating them is the worst, but this is the same with all fruits for me. Bananas seem to be the worst of all though and i can date it back to when i was about 6. i've even been to the point where i had an agreement with my boss while when travelling in a car together he can't eat fruit and i can't smoke. this came about because he started eating an orange once and i was dry reaching out the car window at 100km an hour and he didn't know what was going on. i can laugh about it now of course, but at the time it was terrible. also my girlfriend won't eat fruit around me because she knows i don't like it. if people are eating it that don't know about my phobia i find it hard to say anything to them as i can understand how they would think of it as a joke. so i just walk out of the room or try to stay away as the smell will repulse me. good to know that there are others like me though =]

7:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have bananaphobia as well. People think it is a joke, so I have just taken to telling people that I am allergic to bananas. That way I don't have to deal with the embarrassment.

12:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is SO true!! I have this phobia but I don't know where it came from! I can be in a room with them, and even sit with someone eating it (although this is uncomfortable) but I can't touch them!! I've had panic attacks, but all my friends think it's hilarious and tease me mercilessly. I hate it.

2:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have this fear, and just reading people writing about them makes me feel ill. I get goose bumps and shudder. I just can't bear to be around them, smell them or worse of all hear people eating them.

12:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel nauseous if I smell one or it gets too close to me. It is ridiculous, but I can't help it. Next month the cafe I work at is introducing banana smoothies, and I'll have to make them. I'm currently trying to pretend that it's not happening.

8:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I too have Bananaphobia. My brother teases me with it by eating bananas in the same room as me, and my parents don't take it seriously and think I'm just being stupid. Even at school, everyone has bananas and it is impossible to get away from them. Luckily my best friend has a banana allergy so that's always good.

3:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a phobia I have suffered with my whole life! I had NHS funded therapy for OCD when I was younger and this came up as a part of it. Some days I can tolerate others eating them as long as they are far enough away but some days just someone mentioning them can send me into a panic attack. I was advised when I was younger by my doctor to call it an allergy, which I now understand is because I would get taunted horribly. I wish I could meet others in the same position because so many people don't understand and just tell me to get over it... I simply can't! It has always annoyed me that other phobias are taken so much more seriously and I fear everyday that I will be in a position where one will touch my skin and I will seriously harm myself with fire or knives to get it off any clean my skin. It is a living nightmare because obviously there is no good reason to be afraid!

7:20 PM  

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