Remember back in school on Friday the 13th when the teacher would write “Triskaidekaphobia ” on the chalkboard and explain that it meant a “fear of the number 13″? Well, I don’t remember it either. I never had a teacher who did that. As a school teacher myself, though, I always introduce Triskaidekaphobia to my class anytime we have school on a Friday the 13th. It’s great for talking about word origins and for showing how to break words down into parts to figure out the meaning. It was fun to let the kids try to figure out how to pronounce the word, too.
By the way, if you want to be more specific, a fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia. I have’t tried either of those out on a class of kids . . . yet.
So tomorrow will be Friday the 13th. Will you take any precautions against the supposed bad luck of the day? Personally, I’ve never paid much attention to Friday the 13th in one way or the other - except for the Triskaidekaphobia lesson at school.
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June 12th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Carol, I do not rmeembe hearing the word… Triskaidekephobia. My fiends Phillis, invited me to go with her to the Rome Little Theatre tomorrow night for a play. She is the Lay Pastor at Livingston. In a converstaion she mentioned it woudl be Friday the 13th and asked if i was susperstitious. No, In fact Mama taught us not to be superstitious. Thanks for an intersting post, as usual. I always read but cannot reply often. Have a great week-end