Erica Langen

1) I get panicky even thinking about dark water. It doesn't necessarily have to be deep (though that is indefinitely more frightening), but murky, dark, and cloudy. If the light doesn't reach the bottom, I don't want to go in there. This applies to the deep end of pools, rivers, lakes, large puddles, and of course, the ocean.

2) Chewing gum. I absolutely detest it. In my view, it is nothing more than a half-masticated, saliva-drenched food mass with the consistency of industrial rubber. My biggest concern is that I'll put my hand under a chair or under a table and there will be a huge, disease-ridden blob of old Big Red. I am significantly upset if I step in gum on the sidewalk--I feel like crying and my day is more or less ruined. I have to control my literal urge to gag when people stick their half-chewed gum on a plate to save for after a meal. I don't like seeing other people's gum, even if it's safely in their mouth. I do not chew gum myself, and use breathmints to maintain a minty-fresh breath.

Oprah apparently feels the same way about gum and bans chewing gum from her studio. I find this a perfectly acceptable practice, and I would advocate a nation-wide ban on chewing gum.