Wait, There's an Allergy for That?

There will be times when you come across someone that names an allergy of theirs that sounds, quite simply, fictitious. One of the following is a real allergy:

"I have to wire my house for ethernet because I'm allergic to wifi."

"I'd love to get back into shape, but I'm allergic to jogging."

"Scotland sounds like a lovely place to vacation, but I'm allergic."

Can you guess the real allergy? The answer may surprise you. It's jogging. Yes, really. There's a condition called vibration allergy, which can be triggered by the movements and friction of jogging. Unfortunately, there's probably no master list of every confirmed allergy in the world, so we're left guessing the difference between people being silly (like wifi allergies) and people with a serious medical condition.

What does this mean? It's better to be safe than to be sorry. If someone tells you he or she has an allergy to gasoline or rubber, do what you can to make sure they're not exposed. My grandmother is allergic to gasoline, and it means that she needs someone else to pump her gas. It's not her fault at all, so the skepticism that she faces really isn't grounded in reality.

Skepticism sometimes means admitting that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.