Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Watch Live

National

For Friday The 13th, Say It With Us: Paraskevidekatriaphobia (We'll Teach You How)

A calendar page for Friday the 13th falls to the ground.
picture alliance via Getty Images
A calendar page for Friday the 13th falls to the ground.

Updated May 13, 2022 at 6:48 AM ET

Here's the deal. We can't help you with your fear of Friday the 13th. Who are we to judge? Some of us are afraid of cantaloupes or crumpets. Or holes.

What we can do is tell you that your fear has a name: paraskevidekatriaphobia — and we can teach you how to say it.

Advertisement

Will it help? Who knows? Keep repeating it and your mind will be so occupied that before you know it, you'll land on Saturday the 14th!

So here goes:

"Break it down into syllables," says Korva Coleman, our resident expert on pronunciations. "When you take a look at that middle "i" after the "v" ... it's pronounced like a double "e."

Learn to say paraskevidekatriaphobia

Happy Friday, y'all!

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Advertisement