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Germophobia
Germophobia

Learn English meaning of germophobia

Date: Jun 28 2017

Themes: Food, Friend, Health

Grammar: Present Progressive Tense

Intro

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You are getting ready to clean the bathroom, but you don’t have any rubber gloves? You could clean with no gloves and only your hands, but think about all the germs in your bathroom. Maybe, you could wash your hands after you clean and then use hand sanitizer. But is that good enough? Cleaning without gloves might gross you out.

It’s possible that we’re overthinking this situation, but for some people, the fear of cooties is just too high. These people are germophobes. A germophobe fears germs. This might be an irrational fear, but for these people, it’s very important to be clean and healthy all the time. They don’t want even a single cootie touching them. This might seem like overkill, but for a germophobe, it’s just the right amount of fear.

Jordin wants to share food with Marni. Find out which one of them is a germophobe in today’s English lesson.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jordin

Jordin

Marni

Marni

Jordin:  Hey, Marni, can I have a bite of your sandwich?

Marni:  Uh… well… um… No! I mean, I’m sorry. I know that sounds rude, but I just… I’m a germophobe, and the thought of you putting your mouth on my sandwich… it just really kind of grosses me out.

Jordin:  Oh! Well, I’m not sick or anything.

Marni:  I’m sure you’re not, and I’m sure you’re cootie-free, but I just… Maybe, I’m overthinking this, but I just think of all the germs that are in your mouth, and then, you’ve touched my sandwich, and then, I’ll put my sandwich in my mouth, and I just… Gosh! I just need some hand sanitizer just thinking about this. Do you have any hand sanitizer?

Jordin:  I have some in my bag. Yeah, here.

Marni:  Thanks! Please, get me some.

Jordin:  Yeah, I, like, never use it, so you can have it.

Marni:  Well, yeah, I… Boy, I go through a lot of this stuff. Perhaps, it’s an irrational fear. I just… I can’t… But I’ll buy you a sandwich!

Jordin:  Well, no, you don’t have to buy me a sandwich. I just wanted a bite. It’s totally fine.

Marni:  If you can give me a knife and, maybe, some rubber gloves, then I could just cut you off a section.

Jordin:  I think that’s a little overkill. Don’t worry. I’ll just eat my sandwich. You eat your sandwich. And no germs will be shared.

 

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Discussion

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Jordin asks Marni for a bite of her sandwich. Marni doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t want to be rude, but she really doesn’t want to share her sandwich. Marni is a germophobe! She is afraid of getting cooties from other people. Rationally, she knows that Jordin is healthy. But her fear is irrational. She wants to stay away from all germs.

She tells Jordin that sharing a sandwich grosses her out. But she could cut off a small piece for Jordin if she had rubber gloves. Or she could just buy Jordin a new sandwich. Jordin tells Marni that this is overkill. She doesn’t really need a bite of the sandwich. It was just an idea. She understands that Marni needs everything to be clean and germ-free.

Are you a germophobe? How often do you use hand sanitizer?

 

Comments

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La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I’m not a germophobe. But working with medical tests, you need to use sanitizers, disinfectants and wear rubber gloves all the time as well as other protective techniques.

07:38 PM Jun 28 2017 |

eduardosoutoSuper Member!

Brazil

Well, I am not a germophobe. Of course that nobody likes to be in contact with germs and stuff like that.


If you stop and think, you would get crazy because you are never germ-free and even if you use hand sanitizer it won’t help you or rubber gloves.


I have a cousin that overkills about that!

09:43 AM Jun 28 2017 |

mirandabo

Taiwan

I’m not a germophobe. I don’t use hand sanitizer very often. But I don’t like to share food like this. I think eathing other people’s spit may cause infection. 

08:08 AM Jun 28 2017 |

hermitlady

China

No . I am not a germophobia.  But I often use hand sanitizer , no matter with germophobia.



  I would think the germophobia was a mental disease which was about the cleanliness and obsession.  In the article, the demand of bite a mouthful of others’ sandwich, is minded by most of the people unless the two people very close, such as between lovers,  husband and wife,  parents and children , brothers or sisters, even between children.  It is nothing with germophobia. It is a problem of  health habit. 

04:04 AM Jun 28 2017 |

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