Friday, 2 October 2026

Anatidaephobia, the fear of ducks, in Gary Larson’s comic “The Far Side”

Black-and-white Gary Larson comic “The Far Side”: a frightened man at a desk in an office, with buildings and windows outside.

In 1988 an American artist and cartoonist invented (or merely formulated and set down?) a fear known as anatidaephobia: the dread that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.

The idea first appeared in the comic strip "The Far Side". The name of the condition, anatidaephobia, derives from the Greek-style roots anatidae (duck) and phobia (fear).

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