Mr. Haavisto refused to name his favorite vintage store for fear of word getting around.
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia- Fear of long words.
Now, in the midst of GCSEs at secondary school, I'm finding myself undertaking a dramatic detox in my writing; facing my fear of "boring" words like "big" and "small".
She once wrote that the goal for people in her situation – not easy to achieve – was to try not to "lose the joy of living in the fear of dying" – words that have become a catchphrase at her centres.
What, then, to make of a novella that chooses as its focus the bewildered losses of an ageing actor, a man who, on discovering that he has become "a self-travesty grounded in nothing", develops a fear of the words "thin air", as spoken by Prospero, sensing in them "an obscure indictment"?
However, even as the prize is claimed, Bartlett continues to probe his hero's chronic fear of the word "commitment".
His spirit broke beyond repair.... Bobby's death was the direct result of his parents' ignorance and fear of the word "gay"...
