PET AVERSIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19529, 11 July 1925, Page 22

PET AVERSIONS.

PEOPLE AFFLICTED WITH “ PHOBIAS.” " The two tilings I most hate are getting my hair cut and buying a postal order.” The speaker wa” ”, well-known novelist, and Irom the to’<• ii. which ho uttered these words there was absolutely no doubt about the truth of his odd statement, declares T. C. Bridges, in the Daily Mail. Well, as to getting one’s hair cut, there arc, I know, plenty people who strongly object to this process, and look upon a visit to the hairdresser as only less noxious than a call on the dentist, but quite why anyone should object to buying a postal order that is a different matter, and one less easily explained. Yet human beings are queer creatures, and •the more civilised we become the more are. we afflicted with all sorts of queer “phobias.” For instance I know a man who always buys his clothes ready made because ho loathes being measured by a tailor. He can perfectly well afford to patronise a good tailor, yet nothing would induce him to be fitted'by one. . , . . A woman friend who is good at most things confesses that the one task at which she "shies is putting a fresh lace in a boot or shoe. It is not laziness, for she is both busy and capable, but just one of those odd aversions which arc so difficult to explain. Another friend tells me that, while she is fond of writing letters, there is nothing she hates more than scaling up the envelope and slicking on a stamp. And have you noticed how few women, comparatively speaking, use founlsin pens? The reason is their dislike for filling them. . , The person who cannot stroke velvet is oy no means unusual, and sometimes, but more rarely, you find people who have aversions ►from certain inanimate objects such as metals or precious stones.