Tuesday, January 15, 2008

TIKI Tuesday- Fan Death



First off, this kills me...well, not literally, thanks to my super switch saver.

Fan death is a South Korean urban legend that supposedly many people believe, and is reported about in the media. It states that an electric fan left in a closed room causes sudden death, suffocating victims by stealing their oxygen. Hmm, how did my dad survive all those nights, door closed, with the box fan on full blast?

According to my friend, Wikipedia, "Electric fans sold in Korea are equipped with a 'timer knob' switch, which turns them off after a set number of minutes: perceived as a life-saving function, particularly essential for bed-time use."...All this time I've been getting annoyed with my fan for constantly shutting off, when really I should have been thanking it for saving my life.

Now, I'm not really sure if many Koreans still believe in this urban legend. It's something I should ask the teachers at my school about, but after searching Google I found an article written about fan death, by a professor with the name of "Gypsy Scholar." Here's a delightful excerpt from his article:

We think that the fans are now trying to freeze us to death, so we've put them away in a closet, completely
covered in a bag zipped carefully shut to prevent them from doing even more damage. Fans are killers. Why do
you think that they're called fans? The word "fan" is short for "fanatic." You can't trust fanatics. Don't trust fans,
either.


"The word 'fan' is short for 'fanatic.' You can't trust fanatics. Don't trust fans, either" (That reminds me of the whole "Santa" spells "Satan" spheel). Solid gold, my friends. Solid gold.

Killer.


Click here for the Wikipedia article.
Click here for the Gypsy Scholar blog.

4 comments:

Rebecca Norris said...

HAHAH, I just read your entry to Joe. Probably your finest entry thus far. That's absolutely hilarious. REally.

Rebecca Norris said...

The funniest part is that the fan has a timer on it.

"Life-saving function", I can't handle this.

Anonymous said...

haha this is the funniest thing ever, who on earth would think of starting a rumor like this? got all those little asians scared of coolin off on a hot summer night!

"Fans are killers. Why do you think that they're called fans? The word "fan" is short for "fanatic." You can't trust fanatics. Don't trust fans, either." - my personal favorite

The Whangs said...

So I'm assuming this phenomenon of death by fan began many years after my parents discovered the joys of fans. To this day, they keep one on almost 24-7. God willing, they eventually pass away many years from now from natural causes, and not by fan.

//It's important to note that Korean's fear of fans (and tendency to have other random illogical fears) do not surprise me one bit. :)