Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Roosevelt obviously did not try to teach his teenagers how to drive a car.
Long ago, the psalm writers said, “I will not fear even though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the sea.” (Psalm 46:2)
Sorry, sons of Korah, when the ground opens up beneath me, or I’m facing a tidal wave, my knees will be trembling.
As I reflect on what scares me most, it all boils down to a few factors: loss, shame, not knowing what to do when it matters most, a worldwide shortage of dark chocolate.
As I get older, some of my greatest fears have fallen away a bit:
Death, pain, insignificance, preschoolers with sporks.
But in case you can’t find your fears, here are some you may not even have considered.
You’re welcome.
For those who know me best, there’s really only one on this list that scares me. Let me know which one you think it is.
Tell me yours.
A printable version of this quiz can be found by clicking on the quiz box.
Answers are found at the end of this article.
No Fear of Long Words
If you guessed I feared long words, you missed it. One of my favorite things to teach in middle school was breaking long words into understandable parts. I’m a word nerd.
Take a look at hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. Okay, they got a little carried away with this one, adding the “river horse” name of the hippo and the word monster to exaggerate its meaning. The word originally came from the first-century Roman poet Horace, who used the term sesquipedalia verba to describe a word that was a foot and a half long.
If you’re a word nerd, try entering some of the word parts from the terms above into the Etymology Online Dictionary. (Warning: some of the word parts don’t seem to have any meaning. But that’s English for you.)
More Quizzes:
Answers:
1. N
2. C
3. G
4. F
5. H
6. M
7. O
8. L
9. B
10. K
11. A
12. I
13. J
14. P
15. E
16. D
