Peopley says "Oh! That gives me trypophobia!" like if a phobia were some clothes that you can put on and off whenever something with tiny holes appears. There is a lot of things with tiny holes, funny that just happens with very specific and uncommon things and not with your papel towel, or another mundane thing.

I'm sure it is a real thing but it's also frequently used in an exaggerated way by people that don't really have it, kinda like many other disorders ("oh that one tile is crooked, it triggers my OCD!")

It's the same as claustrophobia or agoraphobia. If you haven't experienced it then it's hard to understand.

It's also overused like gluten intolerance or OCD or the genetic predisposition to the taste of cilantro. A lot of people say a lot of shit.

Oh my god. Tell me more about the cilantro thing. I did a quick search but didn't find what that means. People says that, by genetic, cilantro can taste awful or something like that?

Tastes just like dove soap bars to me so I just assumed others weren't exaggerating.

I never understood why people said the gluten thing.

To some people it tastes like soap.

There’s actually a lot of taste differences between people. Salt, sugar, different herbs and spices will be different but I don’t think it’s well categorized.

yeah. both my wife and I have a bit of claustrophobia but like I can be on a balcony that is a story or two up and look over and can plain be on a higher balcony where she cannot. conversely I am triggered by height in video games like elden ring but that does not bother her at all.

For me, it's very specific arrangement of holes. Organized structure doesn't do it, but a chaotic, or natural arrangement is revolting.

Lizard brain is easily fooled

People have the weirdest phobias and it's not like an on/off thing. I have a weird phobia on dark water, especially there are man made structures. Locks, weirs and whatever freak me the fuck out and I have to do some mental exercises before I can be near them. Just thinking about this makes me squirm. There's nothing rational about it.

I was so mad when I first had cilantro and it tasted like a mouthful of metal and not soap or citrus. Human variation is wild though

So because you don’t understand it, it must not be true.

That tells me everything I need to know about you.

I have i and every time i look at my nose in the mirror I freak out.

We all live our own truths pal.

I have a fear of chocolate brownies, especially the corner slices. But if they have crushed walnuts it helps a bit.

Exposure therapy works on phobias, that's why they're triggered by specific and uncommon things. If you're exposed to the tiny holes in paper towels all the time, they'll bother you less and less until eventually they might not even bother you at all.

I'm sure if I interacted with lotus seed pods all the time they wouldn't make me want to vomit and scratch my skin off.

What if it’s a wrinkled dark hole next to a pink wet hole? Does that frighten you?

Understanding things you don't personally experience is called empathy, and it also exists, even if people without it don't understand.

nope. was not thinking and wrote the wrong thing. my wife is claustrophobic too though while im not. Heck I love being enclosed. Im like a dog in that way.

I've never seen it wet before

Sorry but that phobia doesn’t exist.

Next!

"It gives me anxiety" is another phrase that basically didn't exist until recently, but that doesn't make it any less true. "It makes me anxious" is an older way to say it, and I hated the "gives me anxiety" phrasing at first, but it's just people trying to communicate.

Upvoted. Nonsense.

There are a specific set of criteria that need to be met to trigger the phobia, it's not just any random set of holes. For example, your argument doesn't trigger it for me.

Phobia can also mean disgust or repulsion btw, not only fear. As in homophobia. Most homophobic people are not scared of gay people. (just the first example that came to my mind)

Also you should be able to at least see or persieve (idk how to spell, probably) the holes. Also it doesn't seem to be as big of a deal if the holes are more simmetrical and idk about square holes idk how peoplewould react.

I'm not sure if thaf was a good example. Another example is hydrophobia tho.

I wish my world was as simple as yours.