Why are people afraid of poor little harmless Spiders in UK?

Question

Is it because we are told as very small children....

"Little Miss Muffet. Sat on a Tuffit (What's that?) Eating her Curds and Whey. When down came a Spider and sat down beside her...........
AND FRIGHTENED MISS MUFFET AWAY!!!!

Answer 1

( A tuffet is a little hillock common in meadows in the UK!)
Yes in part as the rhyme is a verbal warning to the young!
The warning was needed because up until recent times (In Man's existance) a bite from an insect would have been fatal from infections rather than poison!
We have knowledge available through education but
without modern medicine and science and high standards of cleanliness to protect us they still would be!
As global travellers it might be better to be afraid! At least until we learn which are harmless! In the UK there is no need to kill native spiders but its instinctive behaviour to do so.

Answer 2

In my home, we love spiders. Two of them have chosen to spend the Maine winter with us. One has very cleverly made a precise web against a corner and some moulding in our old fashioned bathroom, which you cannot see no matter how hard you look unless the light catches it just right. The other little spider has chosen the ceiling as her home, so she will be spending the whole Maine winter with us upside-down while the winds are howling outside during the blizzards. These two little spiders are the most delicate, intricate and intelligent little creatures... and we are very fortunate to have them to glance at from time to time to remind us how little effort it takes to live well...

Answer 3

its coz theyre so fast n creepy!! i think ure little miss muffet idea is probably true though, i have a son i might teach him a different version where little miss muffet became friends with the spider then c if he grows up scared or not!!!

haha

Answer 4

Even in England common or garden spiders bite! Those who lived in the East End when the docks were working would have seen even nastier varieties walking down the street. With global warming and increasing food imports I expect we'll see a lot more nasties crawling up our trouser legs.

Answer 5

Spiders are NOT harmless. Remember Croc Dundee got done by a "harmless" Stingray! But seriously, I have been bitten by spiders so many times that I kill any on sight. They are the deadliest vermin around. I advise anyone to stay well clear of them.

Answer 6

people are afraid of spiders in every county. Its a common phobia, speculation about why is as follows;

- it's a social construct; we see others afraid of spiders and 'learn' the phobia, (your rhyme example demonstrates this)
- it's biological - we evolved to have an innate 'run away!' mode, where if something threatens our survival we are scared of it (so we don't try to pick it up as babies when we know no better)
- 'learned preparedness' - the phobia is not inate but our readiness to learn it is (we more readily learn to develope phobias of things which are dangerous to our survival)

I hope this helps :)

Answer 7

Mike Wazowski.

Answer 8

I know!!
Get this, my friend is a vegetarian, she saw a spider and stamped on it!!??!!
Talk about hypocrisy!
I love the little hairy freaks! They eat the flys around my dustbin!!

Answer 9

I used to be, but not any more. I still don't like them in my room though, coz I don't want them going in my mouth.

Answer 10

The stories about Miss Muffet and her tuffet are greatly exaggerated and in answer to your question, i dunno.