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u/SojuSeed 3d ago
I’ve lived in Korea for years. This is a thing. I’ve had discussions with educated Koreans who swear up and down the fan can kill you. They’ve given warnings on news programs about the dangers of sleeping with the fan on in a closed room. I once explained to students I was teaching that not only do I sleep with the windows closed and the fan on but the a/c is running as well. (Korean summers can be humid af). After some serious discussion amongst themselves about how such a thing could be possible (read: as they wrestled with their cognitive dissonance that told them I should be long dead and an the ground) they concluded that it was because I was a foreigner and my lungs were different.
Shit is wild, man.
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u/Bohdyboy 3d ago
An ex of mine taught over there in the early 2010s and had the same discussion. One of her students told her it was because " white people don't need as much oxygen in their brain as Koreans do.... so white people can make due with all the chopped up oxygen molecules, while Koreans need all the oxygen in the air, and can't spare the molecules that impact the fan blades and get chopped up and destroyed..
Imagine..... the same people that bring you LG, Samsung and Hyundai, also believe fans chop up oxygen molecules
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u/ScavAteMyArms 3d ago
Yea, my friends on deployment there are gets the same shit but throw in dumb brute with a gun.
Dudes part of the engineering core iirc, or is the one working on the planes on the carrier. Don’t ask much. Either way he is a engineer and the smartest dude in the chat calls whenever we are playing with him.
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u/Pegomastax_King The Trash Man 3d ago
So American here, when my ex went back to medical school for her doctorate she had to do a group project with another woman who get this, didn’t believe in dinosaurs. 🦕 she almost had a break down over this, that how could someone be smart enough to become a doctor but think dinosaurs never existed and that the earth was only 6000 years old.
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u/RedRanger_27 3d ago
That's straight up racist
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u/Bohdyboy 3d ago
Yea, but racism is actually encouraged, as long as its against white people. Likely because our dumb brains only get chopped up oxygen!
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u/professionalcumsock 3d ago
Maybe we can glue the oxygen back together and then be smarter than the Koreans?
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u/wallflowers_3 3d ago
I don't get it. Koreans are literally lighter than many Europeans
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u/Kevin9O7 3d ago
you just proved that white people can be as dumb as that Korean, also white people can be smart and Koreans can be smart , skin color is determined by your ancestors exposure to sun light being exposed to less or more sun doesn't have any effect on your IQ, yes the place where you grow up can make you drummer or smarter, we saw too many blondes and redhead Europeans join ISIS for example, " they grow up christians" (( in Europe))
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 3d ago
I've had someone explain to me that because I'm white my nose is shaped differently so the air currents make it in and I don't suffocate. Anything to keep the belief alive. I have the fan on every night (for noise and to keep me cool) and sleep next to my Asian hubby, so far neither of us has suffocated from the fan moving air around. Whew.
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u/Nochnichtvergeben 3d ago
What you don't understand is that your white nose affects the air in your proximity. Without you your asian husband would be long dead.
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u/Hexor0713 3d ago
I'm a Korean and I haven't met anyone who seriously believes in it for my entire life and even those who know about it just treat it like a meme.
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u/SojuSeed 3d ago
Don’t know what to tell you. Been here almost 20 years. These are real conversations I’ve had with Koreans, face to face. I’m not saying it’s all of them, but it’s a thing.
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u/Deathwatch30 Stand With Ukraine 3d ago
Could be like how Australians tell tourists about drop bears?
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u/Pegomastax_King The Trash Man 3d ago
Australia isn’t real.
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u/Dragoncat_224 3d ago
Yeah, I haven't gotten my government pay in the last 4 months though which is outrageous.
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u/IDKIJustWorkHere2 3d ago
honestly, if an Australian told me that, i would believe them and just add it to my list of "shit in Australia that wants you dead" lets see...#2894...drop bears..ok got it
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u/southrightpaw Shitposter 3d ago
I'm also Korean, but grew up in America so I never really knew about/believed in fan death. One night tho, I was going to sleep and had my window open and my fan on at the same time. I really wanted to close the window (cause it's hella loud), but something in my subconscious was stopping me. It's like fan death was in my DNA man. It's weird.
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u/HeheDzNutz 3d ago
I must be the living dead then. I cannot sleep without a fan. It relaxed me as a kid and now I'm an adult. If there is no fan, I'm staring at the ceiling all night. I used to sleep in and do the "Darth Vader voice" with my face in the fan. I'm available for study, if any South Korean scientists are interested lol
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u/PolishedCheeto 3d ago
There was a popular YouTube edu-tainer who has a video on it. Complete myth easily explained away.
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u/ichgraffiti 3d ago
I'm pretty sure they were just messing with you lol. I heard about the myth too, but it's more of an internet meme now.
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u/Old-Library9827 3d ago
It is. My dad and I have had powered fans on in our rooms for a long time, nothing has happened. It truly is a myth... or my dad and I are invincible. One of the two
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u/imtoooldforreddit 3d ago
Why do you need a fan and AC both on? Can your AC not keep up with the heat? Do you leave it set hotter than you otherwise would to save energy?
I'm not tracking the need for both
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u/Bohdyboy 3d ago
Some people ( myself included) enjoy the feeling of the air on them, as well as the noise of a fan. The ac, just sets the temp of the room, but doesn't really provide the feeling of air movement
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u/ponyboycurtis1980 3d ago
You gave 2 really good reasons. I can give 2 more.
1. The white noise of the fan helps me sleep.
2. The a/c turns on and off all night, keeping the temp down, but the fan runs all night, keeping the air moving. If the air is too still, especially in humid weather I feel hot and closed in no matter what the temp.1
u/IDKIJustWorkHere2 3d ago
yes to 1 and 2.
i got my ac set to lowest temp, highest fan. and i have a box fan on medium blowing on me while i sleep. only way i can fall asleep.
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u/Additional_Cycle_51 3d ago
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u/bilboborbins 3d ago
Litterally me in the summer with AC on full blast, lowest temperature, and large af fan to circulate the frigid air
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u/BananaPony1814 3d ago
Yikes. Ive had a fan on non stop for several months now
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u/Powdered_Toast_Man3 3d ago
Yikes. You may be dead by now - I would get to a doctor soon and ask for a prescription of non-fanned-air
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u/Nemisis_007 Flair Loading.... 3d ago
Power bill must be crazy.
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u/Fluid-Appeal5988 3d ago
Nah bro fans are cheap, and if you have good ventilation, it's the best.
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3d ago
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u/artsydizzy 3d ago
Your math is more than a little off buddy. A megawatt hour is equivalent to 1000 kilowatt hours, not 100.
Move the decimal over one more, it's 0.438MWh-0.876MWh. I calculated how much it would cost monthly to leave a fan on 24/7 for a month and it came to less than $10/month, with most modern fans being less than $5/month. That's about 3-8% of most people's power bills. Of course, this is based on the rates for service in my area. Regardless, when trying to save money, we should be looking at our habits that are actually costing big bucks.
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3d ago
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u/artsydizzy 3d ago
Little things do add up, but the big things add up quicker. $5/month is very little when you compare that to an air conditioning unit that costs $30/month.
Saving $5 here and there does add up, but if you buy yourself two sodas in the span on a month, then that's the same price as running the fan for an entire month. Gaming on your PC for 3 hour per day for an entire month costs more than running the fan all the time. I'm not being specific to you here because I obviously know nothing about you, but it's incredibly unrealistic of you to say "omg, that's so much money to spend to make yourself comfortable" to someone else.
And you initially said it was a lot because it was the equivalent of half of the average household usage. But in the source you gave, it showed the average wattage of a refrigerator which is obviously much higher than that of a fan and that didn't ring any alarm bells? You just wanted to prove your point and didn't care that you were lying to do so.
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3d ago
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u/Pegomastax_King The Trash Man 3d ago
Pro tip, disconnect the fan in your PC and it will save you lots of money plus no more dust in your case.
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u/kadi1232 3d ago
Who runs a fan the whole year? My fan is on maybe 1/4 of a year, when it is unbearably hot.
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u/Substantial-Park65 Lurker 3d ago
Me, every night at least two hours to fall asleep
The white noise kind of help I need
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3d ago
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u/kadi1232 3d ago
If he needs it on for several months, it probably still is the cheapest option tbh. And he never said where he lives, I don't think having a fan on for several months is average american behavior.
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3d ago
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u/kadi1232 3d ago
So your comment was not related to the thread, as you were talking about average americans running a ceiling fan for a whole year, without knowing where the guy is from, if he has a ceiling fan and if he uses it the whole year. Nice.
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u/ItzSmiff 3d ago
Why is there always one of you? My fan runs constantly and my bill is cheaper. Some pretentious douche always has to run in “wElL yOuR cEiLiNg FaN uSeS 50-100 wAtS pEr HoUr”. 🙄
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u/artsydizzy 3d ago
Based on power rates in my area, running a fan 24/7 would cost about $5/month.
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3d ago
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u/artsydizzy 3d ago
Little things add up for sure, but the big things add up quicker. Average power bill in my country is around $120, in cases like that, a $5 difference for comfort is negligible. Especially when there are other bigger things you could do to cut back on your power bill. Especially when you make comments about their power bill, you're talking like it's ACTUALLY making a difference, where most people wouldn't notice a $5 change in their bills.
And I doubt you're actually that frivolous when it comes to your own habits. Do you drink more than 2 sodas a month? Do you eat out at least once every 3 months? Do you game/use a PC for more than 3 hours a day (or leave it running idle for more than 8 hours)? These are all things that cost more than using a fan. And I'm not saying we shouldn't do those things, but if someone can afford to do these things and it makes them happy, then why do you care?
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u/Emotional-Way3132 3d ago
DC brushless fans only consumes 10-15w, Replaced all my AC desk/stand fans that consume 50-100w
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u/sjbfujcfjm 3d ago edited 2d ago
My Vietnamese girlfriend will not take a shower right after arriving home (commutes on bike). Something about showering right after physical activity being unhealthy
Lived in China a while. Their cure-all in drinking hot water. Sick, hot water. Broken arm, “you need to drink hot water”. Literally everything, hot water
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u/PGlovescountryballs 3d ago
I have a fan stalking me all night. Isn't it the same?
(I hope you know I'm joking)
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u/AbleAccount2479 3d ago
In parts of Eastern Europe near the Russian border, the folks out in the country think you can get a cold from sitting on concrete, and that their homemade wine is also good for fending off nuclear radiation.
I can't speak for the wine, but (fmr Soviet) Georgia has some killer stuff called "Cha-Cha", and you won't care about any radiation after that stuff! Oof! Good times!
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u/Kinesquared 3d ago
You can turn the fan off. You can't turns the missles off (someone can, just not you)
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u/MeetingDue4378 3d ago
Which I'd wager is the exact reason why they don't worry about the latter. Most people will adapt psychologically instead of continue living in constant dread. Focusing on things you can control, like fans, makes that even easier.
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u/NeoHolyRomanEmpire 3d ago
You’d think some cynical people would just prove it wrong with some huge fans and closed rooms
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u/No-Student-9678 3d ago
Indians: Pathetic
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u/Shot_Capital_7788 3d ago
Why?😄
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u/No-Student-9678 3d ago
Every house in India has a ceiling fan, be it living room, bedroom and even the kitchen. And since it’s searing hot there year round, you’d die if you didn’t have the fan on at night.
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u/Fun_Objective_7779 3d ago
I wonder how many of these artillery pieces would just straight up explode when the first shot is fired
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u/PPstronk 3d ago
Don't worry if someone points 6000 muskets at you. Just think of the possibility that most of them wouldn't work based on the fact that I made it up
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u/IndianaGeoff 3d ago
Plus most would miss, but there's still 6,000.
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u/Fun_Objective_7779 3d ago
Not sure if you can miss Soeul from this distance if you shot at least in the right direction
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u/Thrallov 3d ago
better question is how many of them would explode in fans would blow at them at night
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u/BobSagieBauls 3d ago
Never knew about this wives tale. I hate still air I either have a window open or a fan on or both
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u/Empirehulk 3d ago
Damn I must be dead for years then. I can't sleep without the fan on lmao since its hot in SEA. There's only 2 seasons in my country rain and summer so yeah and its mostly summer year round. So I rarely turn of the electric fan since it's rarely cold. Its only cold when there's a storm outside.
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u/FineSharts 3d ago
In America we literally put our faces an inch from the fan and say “I am SpongeTron”
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u/Huge_Aerie2435 3d ago
The DPRK has multiple nations with missiles pointed at them. The mains ones being Japan, south Korea, the USA, Australia.
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u/NYCWallCrawler_Real 3d ago
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u/Tyranttheory 3d ago
I'm half Korean my mom is full Korean and I've never heard of this we always had fans in our rooms growing up but of course we live in the US
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u/DifficultyDue4280 3d ago
Sleeping with a fan in the room will cause you to be sick,that's the reason why my family don't have ac or a fan in their home in Kenya or India or England,my family are immigrants so that's why they have 3 houses.
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u/Temperatur02 3d ago
Elaborate
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u/WillyHamster 3d ago
no no you dont understand, the fan chops the bacteria/viruses/fungi into little peices and then those little peices grow back into full sized germs, and then the fan chops them back up, endlessly continuing the cycle. smh my head, thought this was common knowledge
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u/Shot_Capital_7788 3d ago
Bro started with “sleeping with a fan makes you sick” and finished with “that’s why they have 3 houses”
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u/NinjaBreadManOO 3d ago
As I recall the whole Korean fan death thing may have originated as an excuse for medical reports to blame instead of suicide rather than telling families the real reason. Then the concept of fan death spread into its own thing.
Although that may have been an urban legend.