WORD OF THE DAY: paraskevidekatriaphobia

WORD OF THE DAY

How about this for a word - paraskevidekatriaphobia.

It comes from Greek and means “fear of Friday the 13th”!

Perhaps not easy to place in a conversation, except, for example, today!

And I've managed to do it.

Today, there is yet another strike organised by the SNCF, protesting against government reforms. I know a lot of people who will be impacted by that, myself included!

Later on, there will be the semi-final draw for the Champion's League. I wonder who my team Liverpool will get? Given that we scored more goals and conceded fewer in the quarter finals (5-1) than the other teams left in, I'm sure nobody we want to play us. And, of course, we have already beaten both Real & Roma in other finals and beaten Bayern in the semis as well.

I also visited a training centre with a number of conferences rooms, all of which had a schedule on the door to indicate when they are free and when they are being used. Curiously, for this week, the dates for Monday to Thursday were written in full...but for Friday, no date was given!

I asked if the person responsible for the scheduling is paraskevidekatriaphobic; apparently she is not and a computer glitch was blamed!

One of my clients said he is not superstitious, quoting the old joke, because it is unlucky!

And another one told me that she has bought some lottery tickets for the big jackpot for tonight.

As a result, we worked out that she is a paraskevidekatriaphile!

If everyone else in France is paraskevidekatriaphobic, she stands a good chance; so we’ll keep our fingers crossed, just in case!