I learned a new word today: galeophobia!

Today's installment of "I learned a new word" comes from a personal place:


I have a huge fear of sharks, to the point where I was actually scared to google this word (I had my cursor poised over a new tab on my screen) for fear that a picture might actually come up. That would be really cruel of google.

I learned this from my daily Mediabistro email in a story about how the Shark Week App is the #1 thing this week or something. The above definition is from MedicineNet.com, but the word does not appear in Merriam-Webster, and dictionary.com is telling me that "galeophobia" means "fear of cats" (I do not have that fear! Kitty love!) so who knows if this is true. I'm shocked I've never heard the technical name of my suffering before.