Do You Have Nephophilia Too?

I’ve never heard of nephophilia before today. But I just happened to wonder if there was a name for people like me – was there one classification, one big tent under which all cloud appreciators, novices, fans, buffs, mavens, aficianodos, experts, and scholars could happily fit? It turns out there is, and the word for these people is Nephophiles.

Mind you, nephophilia is a colloquialism, so you won’t find it in the OED, but you will find it seeded throughout the web like rain seeded in the clouds, or like nephophiles among the normie population.

The term is derived from the Greek words “nephele,” meaning cloud, and “philos,” meaning loving or fond of. Of course, there are varying degrees of intensity of nephophilia, from the mildly curious to the obsessively possessed. And while there is certainly much to be found in the way of satisfaction for the nephophile’s desires, and consolation and for their frustrations, I’m afraid to tell you that the condition is most likely congenital, and almost certainly chronic.

Not to worry, nephophilia is rarely fatal, and there are many ways in which the condition may in fact enhance your life.

Nephophilia Treatment Notes

Bedside manner: best practices for this condition include attentively empathic listening to detailed descriptions of cloud and cloud physics. In serious cases, caregivers may be required to listen to elaborate descriptions of cloud dreams, or even accompany neophiles on cloudgazing excursions

Comorbidity: Due to the often simultaneous coincidence of clouds with sunsets, lunar visibility, and other celestial phenomena, Nephophilia often overlaps with other non-fatal but no less serious conditions. Most common among them is the love of sunsets, known as ‘Opacarophilia’ – from the Latin opacare (dusk) and the Greek love (phile) – as well as the love of the moon, not-so-commonly referred to as ‘Selenophilia’, from the Greek selēnē and the Greek love (phile).