Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022 August 23

= August 23 =

What do you call a fear of killing living things?
I have been trying to avoid killing deer, birds, mongoose, frogs, dogs, and cats with my car. Where I live, they tend to run out into the road randomly, and I only just realized that I am developing a phobia of sorts, as I’m constantly looking for them on the road. Is there any official classification for this kind of thing? Viriditas (talk) 10:08, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * You have a combination of compassion for living things and a practical concern for what damage they might do to your vehicle. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:05, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * There does not appear to be a specific word for this. Related words include "necrophobia" (fear of dead things), or "thanatophobia" (fear of dying), or "foniasophobia" (fear of being killed).  It should be noted that these are not real medical or psychological conditions; just because someone made up a pseudo-greek-sounding word for a particular fear, doesn't mean that's a distinct psychological condition.  The DSM-5 lumps all such fears as "specific phobia", and does not differentiate by source of phobia; it treats them as a sub-category of anxiety disorders.  -- Jayron 32 12:16, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * To the extent that one anticipates that any of a variety of animals is about to cause one harm i.e. the distress of killing it, the phobia is an instance of Zoophobia. The linked article gives more specific words for fears of birds, cats, dogs and frogs. I can add elafiphobia = fear of deer, but I have no word for fear of mongeese Philvoids (talk) 19:18, 23 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Foniasophobia is one of those made up words, like coulrophobia. Anyone can invent a term for some real or imaginary phobia, insert it in the lists of phobias that circulate on the internets and publish the new list. You could use homalismophobia, the fear of levelling (with the ground). --Lambiam 20:04, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for your answers. Follow-up question: is there any existing collision avoidance system technology that could help alleviate my concerns? I had an advanced one back in 2013, and it did work quite well until the chip burned out after five years. Depending on the size of the animal, it would give me an extra second to react. I don’t think it ever worked for small animals or birds, but I could be wrong. Are there any car companies now that boast the best collision avoidance systems that might help detect animals? The linked article on the CAS refers to the 2006 Lexus LS which could detect animals, but I had a 2013 (different make) with a more advanced system I suspect. Given that it’s 2022 going on 2023, it’s safe to assume that the tech is far more advanced now and can help give the driver added reaction time for animals. Any ideas? Viriditas (talk) 23:01, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Aftermarket collision avoidance systems exist. You can find them by googling aftermarket collision avoidance system.  Without wanting to recommend any particular system, there is enough information there for you to find a system that fits your needs and your budget.  Some of these may be available through a local car audio store (which sells and installs not just car audio equipment, but other electronics such as security systems, remote starters, and similar car electronics).  Such a store will likely be able not to just sell you the electronics, but install it properly.  -- Jayron 32 14:22, 24 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks! This helps a lot. Viriditas (talk) 23:11, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

Is this video file supposed to be silent?
MrPersonHumanGuy (talk) 17:12, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * The source video on YouTube "President Jimmy Carter Interview September 2019" has sound but the .webm file uploaded to Wikipedia by User Koavf lacks sound. Philvoids (talk) 18:36, 23 August 2022 (UTC)
 * You would need to ask User:Koavf (who seems to have been blocked since December 2020, but who also seems to have edited in the past month, so I don't know what's up with that). --Viennese Waltz 14:51, 25 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Blocked editors are in general allowed to edit their user talk pages. --jpgordon&#x1d122;&#x1d106;&#x1D110;&#x1d107; 17:50, 25 August 2022 (UTC)