Unlucky number 13?

YOU’LL see this word cropping up over the next few days: ‘friggatriskadekaphobia’ — fear of Friday the 13th. Not to be confused with Friggaphobia — fear of Fridays or fear of ... er ... ahem ... swearing in Irish.

A December Friday 13th is different in character to other ones being mainly concerned with being afraid of what happens when you go into town to get some Christmas shopping done — namely getting clamped and other people behaving like assholes.

For some, friggatriskadekaphobia seeps into the rest of the week and can make you fear other days as well too. Exclusive to the Irish Examiner is the first ever coining of ‘lunaediesanonaphobia’ — which is a fear of Monday the 9th. It is characterised by a sense of foreboding about how much of a sense of a foreboding you’re going to have about Friday the 13th.