Paraskavedekatriaphobia

I don’t know about you but I don’t often come across a five syllable word, so I had to share. Appropriately enough for today being Friday the thirteenth, this wonderful word paraskavedekatriaphobia, means a fear of Friday the thirteenth. I remember when I was younger I had a great amount of fear and trepidation regarding this day. All my friends would talk about in the days leading up to that Friday, there would be discussions on the radio and TV about it, leading to general climate that anticipated the worst in imaginative young minds.

Today decades later, my daughter mentions that she is…” happy that she is wearing her lucky clothes on a day like today.” Where is she getting this stuff from? We don’t even pay attention to this rampant superstition in our home. After all, there are other far more pressing issues in day to day living to deal with. But she is probably getting it from the same place I got my information when I was a child, the playground.

Yup that font of childhood activity is where the junior grapevine grows and flourishes. I can’t tell how many times I’ve had to debunk some “truism” that my eldest came home with after learning it first hand from someone who really knows, on the playground. But if you can’t beat them join them, maybe I’ll let her tell everyone that Saturday the fourteenth is really the luckiest day in the world and that’s what should be so highly anticipated. Meanwhile, the news reports say that Friday the thirteenth is really the safest day because many people avoid leaving home fearing the worst. Sigh, I’ll start with my child first and then take on the rest of the world. Selah.