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I have heard of a Korean superstition that sleeping with the fan on all night will kill you. I have known Korean people who believe this, or at the least refuse to use fans in their bedrooms. For me, the LACK of a fan in the bedroom might kill me!
My purpose is not to pick on Koreans, as I realize that we all have our superstitions that defy rationality. What I'm wondering is, is there anyone here who subscribes to this belief? Or anyone whose parents warned them about it? Did you ever question it, or did you just accept it? Even if you know that a fan won't kill you, do you still prefer to avoid using one? (Kind of like how some people prefer to avoid stepping on cracks, even through they're pretty sure that doing so won't break their mother's backs?) Does anyone have any idea how this particular superstition came about? Any other thoughts or comments about this?
I have heard of a Korean superstition that sleeping with the fan on all night will kill you. I have known Korean people who believe this, or at the least refuse to use fans in their bedrooms. For me, the LACK of a fan in the bedroom might kill me!
My purpose is not to pick on Koreans, as I realize that we all have our superstitions that defy rationality. What I'm wondering is, is there anyone here who subscribes to this belief? Or anyone whose parents warned them about it? Did you ever question it, or did you just accept it? Even if you know that a fan won't kill you, do you still prefer to avoid using one? (Kind of like how some people prefer to avoid stepping on cracks, even through they're pretty sure that doing so won't break their mother's backs?) Does anyone have any idea how this particular superstition came about? Any other thoughts or comments about this?
It supposedly dates back to the 20's and 30's when fans were a new-fangled technology. The crux of it is that fans will give you hypothermia, or asphyxiate you by taking the air from the room, which has been thoroughly proven to be BS by science and also generations of billions of people all over the world sleeping with fans on.
Most younger Koreans accept that it's crap. I've never seen a similar sentiment in China, though almost all fans here have timers, too. My fiance believed that sleeping with the AC at night on would make us sick, and for the first week or two was utterly terrified
It supposedly dates back to the 20's and 30's when fans were a new-fangled technology. The crux of it is that fans will give you hypothermia, or asphyxiate you by taking the air from the room, which has been thoroughly proven to be BS by science and also generations of billions of people all over the world sleeping with fans on.
Most younger Koreans accept that it's crap. I've never seen a similar sentiment in China, though almost all fans here have timers, too. My fiance believed that sleeping with the AC at night on would make us sick, and for the first week or two was utterly terrified
My grandmother thought the same too about the A/C, and she was from Germany. Actually, medically speaking, a dry throat does lead to more illness, since the moist mucus membranes inside your respiratory tract trap bacteria and viruses from traveling down your throat and causing upper respiratory infections.
This has got to be the funniest and most ridiculous superstition ever.....fans killing people in their sleep.
Yes, the first time I heard this I thought they just feared the blades flying off and hitting them or the spinning fan falling and crushing them. Which is highly unlikely to happen but at least made some sense to me. It had to be explained again that it was losing the air and dying by suffocation lol.
I do use a fan, however, the one I use wasn't working the other night --no blade movement, no turning, just some noise. So after I realized I wasn't going to be able to fix the thing, I laid there and listened to the noise and decided I better unplug it. If my fear about it overheating and catching on fire actually happened, I guess that could have killed me. I did do a little research and found that they even have tee shirts about fan deaths.
My guess is this. When something new is invented, there will be some people who feel negative to it.
When a fountain pen was introduced to Japan, many Japanese insisted we should use brush and ink to write a letter. When a ballpoint pen was introduced to Japan, many insisted we should use a fountain pen. When typewriter was introduced to Japan, many insisted we should use a ballpoint pen. When emails were introduced to Japan, many insisted we should write or type letters.
Most younger Koreans accept that it's crap. I've never seen a similar sentiment in China, though almost all fans here have timers, too. My fiance believed that sleeping with the AC at night on would make us sick, and for the first week or two was utterly terrified
Can you set the timer so it doesn't turn off or at least longer than sleeping time? Or are you stuck with a timed fan?
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