A recent Savage Chickens cartoon about taking off the pressure on a speaker by releasing a crate of snakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

What is even worse than having an ‘elephant in the room?’ (a subject that everyone knows about but no one wants to talk about)?

 

Releasing a crate of snakes is way worse than a single elephant. There is a cartoon by Doug Savage at Savage Chickens on November 24, 2025 titled Taking Off the Pressure. And a well-known article by Geoffrey Brewer at Gallup News on March 19, 2001 is titled Snakes Top List of Americans’ Fears. In their 2001 poll snakes were feared by 51% while speaking in front of an audience was feared by 40%. (Another 1998 poll had 56% fearing snakes and 45% fearing public speaking). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More recently the Chapman Survey of American Fears has the broader fear category of reptiles from 2015 to 2024. A bar chart shown above compares fear of reptiles with fear of public speaking. In 2015, 2016, and 2017 more people feared reptiles. More recently more people feared public speaking.