Wil's World of Words» Glossophobia http://wilsworldofwords.com Interesting English expressions and idioms Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:12:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 5th Friday Fun Quiz http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/10/5th-friday-fun-quiz.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5th-friday-fun-quiz http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/10/5th-friday-fun-quiz.html#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:00:21 +0000 Wil http://wilsworldofwords.com/?p=482 5th Friday Fun Quiz]]> question mark 5It’s been a varied week at the World of Words! We’ve seen two fights, looked at some jewellery that can send a message, and learnt how to remember new vocabulary.

It’s time again to test your knowledge and vocabulary with the fifth Wil’s World of Words Friday Fun Quiz. Good luck and have a great weekend!

5th Friday Fun Quiz:

'In good spirits' means:





A good way to remember new words is to write them on a piece of paper and:





A 'cockpit' is:





A 'scuffle' is:





A 'brooch' is:





Which of the following expressions means 'the current situation'?





BONUS QUESTION - 'Glossophobia' is the fear of:







Today’s image is by Ivan Petrov.

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]]> http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/10/5th-friday-fun-quiz.html/feed 0 Top 10 Phobias in English http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/08/top-10-phobias-in-english.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=top-10-phobias-in-english http://wilsworldofwords.com/2009/08/top-10-phobias-in-english.html#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:49:51 +0000 Wil http://wilsworldofwords.com/?p=64 Top 10 Phobias in English]]> After my post on fears and phobias last month, a few people asked me if there was a specific name for the fear of scorpions. Scorpions belong to the arachnid family of animals so ‘arachnophobia’ would cover the fear of them and spiders, too.

This started me thinking about what the most common phobias are and what their names are in English. I had a look at a number of sources online and they all had slightly different information but here are the ten phobias that featured in most of the lists.

  • ARACHNOPHOBIA: Fear of arachnids.
  • SOCIOPHOBIA / PHOBIA: Fear of people or social situations.
  • AEROPHOBIA: Fear of flying.
  • AGORAPHOBIA: Fear of places where it would be difficult to escape if one suffered from a panic attack. Note: Native speakers of English often use this term to talk about people who are afraid of open spaces.
  • CLAUSTROPHOBIA: Fear of confined or small spaces.
  • EMETOPHOBIA: Fear of vomit or vomiting.
  • ACROPHOBIA / ALTOPHOBIA: Fear of heights. Note: Native speakers often use the word ‘vertigo’ to talk about fear of heights. ‘Vertigo’ is the feeling of dizziness and difficulty balancing caused by acrophobia or altophobia and is not a word for the fear itself.
  • CARCINOPHOBIA: Fear of cancer.
  • BRONTOPHOBIA: Fear of thunder and lightning.
  • NECROPHOBIA: Fear of death or dead things.

Another common one I saw was:

  • AICHMOPHOBIA: Fear of needles.

There is one more I would like to mention that could make it very difficult for a person to learn a language:

  • GLOSSOPHOBIA: Fear of public speaking.

I am not afraid of speaking in public  in English. As a teacher, I have to speak in front of groups of people every day. However, I do get a little nervous if I have to speak in front of a group using my second language. I usually have a cup of green tea and do some deep breathing to calm my nerves if I am in that situation.

Do you ever get afraid of speaking in public? If so, how do you calm your nerves?

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