It might have been a close encounter with a robber on a dark street, or quaking just before speaking in front of a crowd, or a personal phobia, such as fear of heights or flying.
Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and author of "Watching the English", thinks the paradox reflects one of the defining characteristics of Englishness: a "phobia about crowding and fixation with privacy" that arises when lots of people are crammed together in a small island.Nimbyist tendencies are not just mean-spirited, though.
partly because it was too financially impossible, partly because I have a phobia of crowds (for more on this phobia and why, see How To Travel Anywhere and Not Get Killed Or Maimed). 1.
She had a phobia about the crowds and the cars.
"I did this because I cannot go to Sweden because of my 'social phobia.' I cannot stand crowds".
These include some with asthma, heart and other medical conditions, including hip, knees or back problems, and people with phobias about crowds or confined places.
I have a social phobia and cannot stand these large crowds of people.
There are some common denominators running through these people who are afraid to fly: A fear of elevators, of high bridges, sometimes fear of crowds of people, a high incidence of claustro phobia.
Overall, fear of public speaking is America's biggest phobia - 25.3percentt say they fear speaking in front of a crowd.
But she did turn from the cameras long enough to hiss, "There are two things I have a phobia about: one is being photographed, and the other is a crowd".
