They say there’s a thin line between love and hate. Actually, maybe it’s not a thin line but an inflatable piece of rubber filled with oxygen or helium. We’re talking about balloons, and the love or fear that they inspire. Actually, in this post we mean intense love or intense fear. And when we say “intense love” of balloons, we really mean those who call themselves looners – people who have an actual balloon fetish. On the other side of the spectrum are those with – well, not really hate, but fear – of balloons. This kind of fear is called globophobia.
Looners
Looners are people who have a sexual fetish in regards to balloons. Some looners enjoy blowing them up, lying on them, or even popping them. Take this guy – he seems fond of stuffing an expanded balloon under his shirt, like he’s ready to give birth to it. And at night, he sleeps with them.
“I am pure in my life. I keep my balloons the same way.”
Wow, glad he told us! We guess that makes it ok, then. Carry on.
Globophobia
Not everybody loves balloons. Some can’t stand to be around them and even get incredibly fearful in their presence. This is called globophobia, defined as a “persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of balloons.” Those who suffer from it avoid situations where balloons are going to be around. They also have a fear of the balloons popping, which may also involve phonophobia (fear of loud sounds).
It’s interesting to note that those with a balloon fetish and those with a balloon phobia may both dislike the popping of balloons for different reasons (looners who develop emotional attachment balloons as actual entities may see their popping as “death”).
As one person commented, it would be interesting to see how looners (“poppers” or “non-poppers”) and globophobes respond to something like the Hindenberg disaster.
Thanks to the following: Hypervocal, Yahoo Voices,
