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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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 Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:27 am Post subject: why do Koreans fear the air in tunnels? |
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ok, can someone please explain to me what's going on with the tunnelphobia syndrome I keep witnessing?
I did notice it before when upon occasion a taxi might drive thru a tunnel and even on a hot day cut off the air con until we were out - whatever.
but now my commute every day is on a bus and we take a SHORT as in (I timed it) between 12-38 seconds to go thru a tunnel.
SLAM goes the windows - and if I'm next to one, someone will try and close it if I don't. if they close it and I can reach it I open it up again.
Today this woman looked at me and pointed to the window as we were approaching the tunnel - "Tunnel" she said - I just glared at her.
She reached across me to close the window and I knocked her arm back, needless to say she didn't try again.
ok, so I give up, what are they afraid of?
oh, btw, I have witnessed maybe .01 % of the time a K passenger will leave their windows open. |
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tfunk
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:35 am Post subject: |
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Maybe their ears pop or they don't like stuff being blown around the car. If the tunnel is busy then the CO2 build up with be higher than average; there's a lot of pollution in there. Maybe it's common for kids to try and stick their heads/hands out windows of cars in tunnels and it gives their parents peace of mind to know the windows are closed.
It's also possible that they're all superstitious troglodytes. |
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whatever
Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Location: Korea: More fun than jail.
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:41 am Post subject: |
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Is it superstition...as in fan death, fourth floors and kimchi curing all? Or unfounded fear...as in being terrified of small dogs, avoiding sunlight at at all cost or stigmatizing foreigners for every conceivable social ill?
I'm going to guess the former. Some old guy said something about it on TV once, so it's a fact now. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:56 am Post subject: |
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| Actually, there is a pretty mundane explanation. They don't like to breathe car exhaust fumes. In a tunnel, the air can't escape easily, so it's 'dirty'. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:02 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Actually, there is a pretty mundane explanation. They don't like to breathe car exhaust fumes. In a tunnel, the air can't escape easily, so it's 'dirty'. |
yeah, I'm inclined to think this is it - but - when traffic is moving along at a clip and the tunnel is short - it's not a problem folks!!
I wouldn't want to walk thru a tunnel - but driving thru one - even a long one - there's no reason to suffocate yourself inside a vehicle
I also think there's a link here between this and the fan death superstition but don't know what it is - yet. |
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seoulteacher
Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: Re: why do Koreans fear the air in tunnels? |
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| moosehead wrote: |
"...Today this woman looked at me and pointed to the window as we were approaching the tunnel - "Tunnel" she said - I just glared at her.
She reached across me to close the window and I knocked her arm back, needless to say she didn't try again. |
You raise an interesting issue - why do Koreans react to tunnels that way?
However, with your having had time to think it over, do you really think that knocking her arm back was such a good idea? I'm at a distance now (outside of ROK) and so I'm away from those little mannerisms / idiosyncracies that speak of a culture other than our own and which I grant can be irritating, but...poor lady, maybe she had not the language to explain herself?
Put yourself in her place, how would you have felt if someone (especially someone (*) who you could guess was not native to your country) had knocked your arm back?
Oh, yes: I've been there, too (or close enough...ie. maybe without the actual physical contact)...I too have quickly reacted in anger in Korea, to then question my reaction with regret. To be in a country where one can not communicate in the local language (*) can be very frustrating!
(*) = I've made some assumptions here about you. |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:03 am Post subject: |
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| Ever cleaned your nose in the morning after spending the day outside the previous day? That's the kind of junk that exist in those tunnels only ten fold. |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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| I too don't like to breath in the noxious fumes that linger in tunnels so I turn my air off or close the windows. I've never once met a Korean people who thought that Kim Chi cures everything or that sleeping in a room w/ the fan on and windows closed would kill them. |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:03 am Post subject: |
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| spliff wrote: |
| I too don't like to breath in the noxious fumes that linger in tunnels so I turn my air off or close the windows. I've never once met a Korean people who thought that Kim Chi cures everything or that sleeping in a room w/ the fan on and windows closed would kill them. |
But you're spwiffy. And spwiffy is the man. Spwiffy gets down to da weal nitty gwitty.
He's the spwiff. Spwifster has it going on. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:26 am Post subject: Re: why do Koreans fear the air in tunnels? |
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| seoulteacher wrote: |
You raise an interesting issue - why do Koreans react to tunnels that way?
However, with your having had time to think it over, do you really think that knocking her arm back was such a good idea? I'm at a distance now (outside of ROK) and so I'm away from those little mannerisms / idiosyncracies that speak of a culture other than our own and which I grant can be irritating, but...poor lady, maybe she had not the language to explain herself?
Put yourself in her place, how would you have felt if someone (especially someone (*) who you could guess was not native to your country) had knocked your arm back?
Oh, yes: I've been there, too (or close enough...ie. maybe without the actual physical contact)...I too have quickly reacted in anger in Korea, to then question my reaction with regret. To be in a country where one can not communicate in the local language (*) can be very frustrating!
(*) = I've made some assumptions here about you. |
first of all, I'm asking a legitimate question and stating as simply as possible an occurrence as what happened - and being the honest person I am, I don't think that gives you the right to judge me simply because you read more into something than was there. 
The woman's arm crossed in front of me and I stopped her before she was able to close the window -
you know NOTHING about the bus ride I was on - every day - which happens to be packed - as in PACKED with people, mostly students, and even on very cold days the air is stifling. add that to people coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths, the special individuals who don't believe in brushing their teeth, not to mention those who don't bathe and the air can be considerably fouler than that one would experience zooming thru a tunnel in a few seconds to half a minute.
call me sensible but it seems to me if Ks didn't like "bad air" they'd do a bit more about the air pollution in Seoul, like promote the electric car or something.
so don't start swinging your judgmental holier than thou axe at me just because I prefer a breeze on my face vs. someone's foul breath. 
Last edited by moosehead on Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
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krichan85
Joined: 02 Apr 2008
Location: Pyeongchon
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:27 am Post subject: |
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| that's interesting to hear of. actually isn't there a superstition in the states that it is good luck to hold your breath through a tunnel or sumthin? |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| krichan85 wrote: |
| that's interesting to hear of. actually isn't there a superstition in the states that it is good luck to hold your breath through a tunnel or sumthin? |
I don't know about that one but if a car drives over railroad tracks you are supposed to lift your feet off the floor for some odd reason - I don't remember what  |
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spliff
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe so you don't get an uncomfortable jolt through you legs, makes sense but, of course, it's stupid cause a Korean said it..... |
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yingwenlaoshi
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Location: ... location, location!
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:44 am Post subject: |
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Why?
Cause there might be a giant fan on the other side. |
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ryouga013
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:37 am Post subject: |
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Tunnel = enclosed area
AC or other air circulating device = fan
Air in tunnel =
.
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FAN DEATH |
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