Fan Death

Everywhere else


















Korea


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Death comes to us all. This is no secret. In Korea, however, death can come in the form of an oscillating fan. It lulls you into a false sense of security with its calm whir and gentle breeze. But leave it on too long, and this murderous machine will do you in.

This is no laughing matter. Ask a Korean what will happen if you leave a fan on all night, with your doors and windows closed. Nine times out of ten, you’ll see their eyes widen as they solemnly say, “Oh. You’ll die.” Apparently this phenomenon is propagated by the Korean media which reports a few cases of fan death every summer. I’ve asked my students how they know that fan death is true and the response has been, “Teacher, it’s on the news.”

So how exactly does a fan cause you to bite the dust? While there are a number of explanations, the following are some of the more popular ones.

Apparently fans can:

· suck all the oxygen out of the room and asphyxiate you.

· cool your body and cause death by hypothermia.

· evaporate your body fluids and lead to death by dehydration.

· chop up all the oxygen molecules in the room, leaving none to breathe.

So basically…




Now I’m no scientist, but my own personal experience with fans and enclosed spaces has left me relatively unscathed. Unfortunately, pointing to my experience has done little to change the minds of the Koreans I’ve spoken to about this. So it seems fan death is simply a scientific truth that’s here to stay. The earth revolves around the sun, for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction, and fans kill people.

Not surprisingly, fans are sold here with auto-off safety switches. Either the fan manufacturers also believe in fan death, or they just realize that they won’t turn a profit unless their product has the safety feature. So you get two hours max of circulating air and then “click,” off it goes. Your demise has been averted. You’ll wake up in a pool of your own sweat, being eaten by mosquitoes. But hey, you’ll be alive, so don’t complain.

It’s nearly impossible to talk about the issue without resorting to sarcasm…but I’m trying to be non-judgmental about it. There’s enough cultural misunderstanding between Koreans and foreigners without me deliberately adding to the fray. And the endemic, bitter western mindset of “this culture is so stupid” is the last place I want to end up. But I’m really curious to know people’s thoughts on the topic, so sometimes I can’t help but bring it up. I guess the next time a university educated Korean swears to me that fan death is true, I’ll bite my tongue, nod my head, and say something benign like, “Wow, that’s interesting. I never heard of that before coming here.”

It’s the least I can do, right? Koreans think my culture is backward for condoning walking indoors with your shoes on. But most Koreans I’ve met, let that slide. So when it comes to my personal opinions about fan death, I’ll keep silent.


As silent as the grave.


The grave you'll end up in if the auto-off switch fails.