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MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:01 am Post subject: Important Fan Death news!! |
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| I just had one of my uni students write a paragraph about how Fan Death is a Korean superstition! Whoo hoo! Finally! |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 5:41 am Post subject: Re: Important Fan Death news!! |
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| It astounds me that people believe that myth. The most baffling thing for me is that usually there is someone making money from myths like these that are quite obviously untrue. There are plenty of people with an interest in keeping alternative medicine in business, but fan death? Aren't there scientists in Korea? Somebody should write a book about fan death and make some money from it. When I tell friends back home about fan death they think Koreans are idiots |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:03 pm Post subject: |
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| My theory is that fan death was invented by the establishment to cover up the depressing number of alcohol related and carbon monoxide poisoning by ondol deaths. That or Samsung needed to unload a massive surplus of fan timers at some point in the past. |
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jfromtheway
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:41 pm Post subject: Re: Important Fan Death news!! |
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| Squire wrote: |
| It astounds me that people believe that myth. The most baffling thing for me is that usually there is someone making money from myths like these that are quite obviously untrue. There are plenty of people with an interest in keeping alternative medicine in business, but fan death? Aren't there scientists in Korea? Somebody should write a book about fan death and make some money from it. When I tell friends back home about fan death they think Koreans are idiots |
Oh, yeah. It's one of the most hilariously ridiculous things I've come across in my life. I've destroyed that insane concept for three Korean women and it was an enormous pleasure to whip up the computer or phone and watch them read the wikipedia on that one:
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| Despite widespread reporting from the media and other agencies in South Korea about fan death, it has never been explained by these organizations why this phenomenon has never been reported or even heard of in any country other than South Korea. |
But, no, it couldn't be... every year people die... no, it's on the news every year... old people... oh my god, the government and the media are ******* with our heads and we all believe it... |
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Drew345
Joined: 24 May 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Next they'll come out with something like... the common cold isn't really caused by large temperature differences between night and day. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Underwaterbob wrote: |
| My theory is that fan death was invented by the establishment to cover up the depressing number of alcohol related and carbon monoxide poisoning by ondol deaths. That or Samsung needed to unload a massive surplus of fan timers at some point in the past. |
My theory is that it's simply a transfer of the actual reason for CO deaths in the winter not that long ago (back when people only had yeontan (charcoal briquet) to use for heating). Now that the winter heating is safe, they can't blame it on the ondol anymore.
What about the so-called reason for the pails of used toilet paper? In the late 1970s, I lived in Seoul, not that far from downtown, in a nice but not rich area. All of the houses in my area had outhouses. I don't mean toilets with running water in a little room next to the house; I mean an actual pit. The honey bucket brigade would charge a lot more than the regular rate if you had paper of any kind in your pit.
And the tap water? Oh, what's the use? We can go on and on about these, shall we we say quirks of life here. |
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jfromtheway
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Interesting. I heard about the yeontan thing, it��s also a racial slur against black people right. Isnt there some story about two black guys and a taxi driver? |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:52 am Post subject: Re: Important Fan Death news!! |
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| Fan death doesn't need to make anyone money any more than 'clicking your knuckles cause arthritis' makes anyone money. However, if only fans with timers can be sold in Korea this adds limits to the import of fans which don't meet korean standards. |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
| The honey bucket brigade would charge a lot more than the regular rate if you had paper of any kind in your pit. |
Interesting, although I wonder if now it's because a trashcan is less likely to get stolen than a plunger. |
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The Sultan of Seoul
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Location: right... behind.. YOU
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| Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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| The honey bucket brigade would charge a lot more than the regular rate if you had paper of any kind in your pit. |
What does this mean and who are the Honey Bucket Brigade?
Maybe I'm being dim, but me no understand, but me like old stories like these, so now me is curious. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:05 am Post subject: |
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| The Sultan of Seoul wrote: |
| Quote: |
| The honey bucket brigade would charge a lot more than the regular rate if you had paper of any kind in your pit. |
What does this mean and who are the Honey Bucket Brigade?
Maybe I'm being dim, but me no understand, but me like old stories like these, so now me is curious. |
"Honey bucket" is a euphemism for "manure pail." "Brigade" is, of course, the people who carry the honey buckets. Those guys would charge to clean out your outhouse pits. The benefit for them was that they would also sell the manure to the farmers. The farmers, as you can imagine, are not interested in having tons of newspaper, toilet paper, catalog pages, etc., mixed in with their fertilizer. That means the honey bucket brigade would have to strain the manure. Simplest solution: don't put paper in the pit. Ah, I notice you still have a quizzical look on your face. Yes, yes. There is still the problem of what to do with the paper in the pail. Quite simple, really. Burn the paper.
And this was in the capital city in a regular (read: not poor) area. |
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The Sultan of Seoul
Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Location: right... behind.. YOU
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:07 am Post subject: |
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Wow, in the seventies!
Hard to imagine now, impossible almost.
Thanks for the story man! |
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T-J
Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:32 am Post subject: |
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One of my students in NowonGu still had an outhouse up until '94.
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MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| But the point of my topic was that my student acknowledged that it is not real! This is a happy day! |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| T-J wrote: |
One of my students in NowonGu still had an outhouse up until '94.
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Most old farmhouses still have outhouses. |
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