There’s a rising trend in America that we must work to reverse: homophonophobia.

This is the fear of words that sound the same, but mean different things.

There’s a terrific example in the “Spectrum” Monty Python sketch:

“Bow” and “bough.”

In my research of this trend, I came across a startling discussion of the homophonophobia problem in this article by Gretchen McCulloch.

This, of course, is not to be confused with homographobia, which is not a fear of graphs, but instead, a fear of ambiguity.

I think I know a few people with that affliction. Personally, I thrive in it.