| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
TheBebbins
Joined: 13 Jan 2011
|
 Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:31 pm Post subject: Bent over people handing out leaflets |
 |
|
I travel on the subway everyday and I often see people handing out leaflets. They place them on the lap of each person sitting down and then a couple of minutes later they take them back in. Nobody seems to take much notice of them, and they never offer me a leaflet (probably as I am foreign so they won't expect me to be able to read it, which I can't).
A lot of the time they have severely bent backs, they are so bent over it is almost at a right angle and I just wondered if anyone knew why and what are they campaigning about? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
highstreet
Joined: 13 Nov 2010
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 11:53 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| usually the paper has a story about their lives and how/why they need money |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| They're a type of beggar. Sometimes I give and sometimes I don't. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
What is the disease these old people have that causes them to be completely bent over?
Because old people don't seem to have this where I'm from. They might have back pain or even a hump or something but they don't walk around with their face staring at the road.
I'm thinking it might be to do with the massive vitamin D deficiency these women get. You see it a lot less in old men. It is only sunny and clear here in the winter when the sun is at an angle that makes it hard to produce vitamin D (and when we're covered in warm clothes). In the spring it is dusty which inhibits the UV rays which cause vitamin D production, in the summer it is overcast, and throughout the year women cover up their entire bodies in fear of getting brown. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
sadguy
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 7:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| i've seen the old ladies bent over, and one time, one of them stood straight up and it was frickin bizarre. it was like seeing a polar bear stand on it's hind legs. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
balzor
Joined: 14 Feb 2009
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
| chungbukdo wrote: |
What is the disease these old people have that causes them to be completely bent over?
Because old people don't seem to have this where I'm from. They might have back pain or even a hump or something but they don't walk around with their face staring at the road.
I'm thinking it might be to do with the massive vitamin D deficiency these women get. You see it a lot less in old men. It is only sunny and clear here in the winter when the sun is at an angle that makes it hard to produce vitamin D (and when we're covered in warm clothes). In the spring it is dusty which inhibits the UV rays which cause vitamin D production, in the summer it is overcast, and throughout the year women cover up their entire bodies in fear of getting brown. |
decades of working in the rice fields starting as a child. The older ones might have disabilities from the war. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 8:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| balzor wrote: |
decades of working in the rice fields starting as a child. The older ones might have disabilities from the war. |
Not sure this is it because I've seen pictures of very healthy African grandmothers who pick water chestnuts for up to 12 hours per day. They have very straight backs and spinal discs as compressed as teenagers in industrialized countries.
So either it is a specific type of bad posture that these Korean women are using in the rice fields or it is something to do with their nutrition and vitamin status. I'm going to lean toward the latter because there are a lot of rice fields in Vietnam and Thailand but I never noticed the completely bent back phenomenon til I came here. It might have been present in some amount that didn't catch my attention, but not a single instance comes to mind. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| balzor wrote: |
| The older ones might have disabilities from the war. |
This would be more accurate I would imagine.
It was well documented that during the Korean War a large portion of the population was basically starving, and thus leading them into all kinds of various conditions caused by malnutrition and whatnot.
Never seen any documentation linking those people to the ones we see on the subways and in the ghettos, but it seems rather likely given their age relative to the war. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Wad
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| sadguy wrote: |
| i've seen the old ladies bent over, and one time, one of them stood straight up and it was frickin bizarre. it was like seeing a polar bear stand on it's hind legs. |
A common ailment in all of Asia called "osteoporosis". |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
matthews_world
Joined: 15 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Lack of calcium, trash picking, and carrying babies on their backs another cause. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The result of 12 hours per day bending over in fields WITH a baby on their back!
Then a few hours of cooking and cleaning at floor/ground level WITH a baby strapped on their back!
They basically never stood up straight.
You can still see it in some very backwards parts of Korea. Halmoni in the fields with babies on their backs. While more often than not her husband is sitting around drinking makkoli with cronies.....swearing and spitting. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Osteoarthritis? Osteoperosis is weakening of the bones and common breaking of the hip. I dont know if it extends to hunchbacks.
| Wad wrote: |
| sadguy wrote: |
| i've seen the old ladies bent over, and one time, one of them stood straight up and it was frickin bizarre. it was like seeing a polar bear stand on it's hind legs. |
A common ailment in all of Asia called "osteoporosis". |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
| eamo wrote: |
The result of 12 hours per day bending over in fields WITH a baby on their back!
Then a few hours of cooking and cleaning at floor/ground level WITH a baby strapped on their back! |
The problem with this reasoning is that a lot of other women in many countries across the world do the same thing and they have better posture and less spinal compression than us Westerners who don't even bother doing physical labour. Korea does not have a monopoly on carrying babies or working in fields. If you go to both India and Africa you will see people carrying their babies with just one arm. Probably the majority of the planet actually does things this way rather than the American and Western Europe stroller route. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| BoholDiver wrote: |
Osteoarthritis? Osteoperosis is weakening of the bones and common breaking of the hip. I dont know if it extends to hunchbacks.
| Wad wrote: |
| sadguy wrote: |
| i've seen the old ladies bent over, and one time, one of them stood straight up and it was frickin bizarre. it was like seeing a polar bear stand on it's hind legs. |
A common ailment in all of Asia called "osteoporosis". |
|
a weakened spine would lead one to bend over.
Nutrition was quite poor in Korea for that generation. They were an occupied land. Just look at how the young generation (especially guys) are near giants compared to their parents and grandparents.
Nutrition has improved significantly in Korea, and you probably won't see this kind of bent over woman much longer. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
|
| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| All I can say is that these 'old bent-over' people probably had a much harder life than most of us can ever imagine. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
