SPIEGEL ONLINE - March 27, 2006, 12:21 PM
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/...407764,00.html
Draftophobia
Blown Away by the Fear of Air
A lot of Germans don't like drafts. Some even seem to have an
irrational fear of moving air, believing it can cause pneumonia, flu,
colds, clogged arteries and just about every malady imaginable. Two
readers over their views of this unusual German quirk.
Coming to Germany for the World Cup this summer? If so, it is
important to know a certain phrase you will probably hear: "Es zieht!"
Years ago, I traveled through Germany with a group from my high
school. One sultry day, we opened the windows of the train we were
riding in to allow some air to circulate. Immediately, people from all
corners of the train started complaining "es zieht," then got up and
began closing the windows and letting us know how displeased they were
with our actions.
None of us could understand any German and we had no idea what was
going on until someone took the time to explain it to us. The
explanation was that if we open the windows, the air would blow
through the train. We explained that we realized this and it was for
precisely that reason that we opened the windows in the first place.
They won the battle by making sure that all the windows remained
closed in our sweltering railway car for the duration of the journey.
We remained quietly seated, drained because of the heat and confused
by what had happened.
Sometime later at the home of a friend, I was asked if I felt the
breeze from an open window. I replied that I did and to my dismay the
window was promptly closed. It was at that moment that it finally hit
me, what was enjoyable for me, was quite a serious problem for my
German friends.
Germans love fresh air and open their home and office windows quite
often, for a short time -- winter or summer -- in an exercize they
call "lüften," or "airing out," and yet they are deathly afraid of any
drafts.
For almost 20 years now I have been in Germany and every summer it is
the same. In an attempt to relieve the heat at the office, I will open
a few windows to get some air flowing. I always know what is coming,
but I still cringe when I hear it. Someone will say "Es zieht" (there
is a draft) and ask that the windows be closed. I bring my own fan to
work and year after year it is a problem to find a place to put it as
my German colleagues are absolutely convinced the blowing wind will
land them in the hospital.
Contributed by Robert Dynan in Mörfelden-Walldorf.
One of the most bizarre quirks I experienced in my 2 years living in
Germany was what I like to call draftophobia. What is draftophobia,
you ask? I define it as an irrational fear of moving air. As an
American, I grew up with open windows in cars, buildings and houses.
If the car isn't at a standstill, heaven forbid if you happen to roll
down a window in a car full of Germans. I have endured many hot and
sweaty drives with my German friends who lacked air-conditioning. At
first, I thought, "well they are just waiting for the air-conditioner
to kick-in." Finally, we stopped at a red light and the windows went
down in unison. Ahhh, fresh air! Then the light turned green and the
windows went back up, trapping in the hot air until the next red
light. If you are unlucky enough to be stuck driving on the autobahn,
you might have to endure hours without moving air. You arrive at your
destination in sweat-soaked clothing wanting nothing more than a
two-liter bottle of water.
My German wife once explained draftophobia to me. According to leading
scholars and doctors in Germany, she said, drafts are responsible for
pneumonia, flu, colds, clogged arteries and just about every malady
imaginable. Yet the biggest paradox of all is that Germans are busy
walking and cycling throughout quaint little villages and busy urban
streets on a regular basis.
Ok guyz, is this really true?![]()
its true. the older they(we) get the more draft intolerant they(we) get.
it is borderline phobia for sure.
personally i love a draft but that makes me the exception which prooves the rule..
nice find btw
similar to the draftophobia is the wet hair paranoia which would make my parents force me to wear a beanie when ever it was below 15C outside and my hair was wet from the shower.
they were convinced i d get seriously sick if i didnt wear it.
needless to say the beanie came off as soon as i was out of sight and never once did i catch even the slightest hint of a cold.
probably tradition or something.
Lol... now that you mentioned it. I also remember a German guy always closing the windows on that the russians left open (we lived in a student house in Erlangen). At that time I tought was just a different conception of "Today is a cold day" between the germans and russians. Now everything is exaplained!!! LOL
Wow...thats an unusual one for sure. I'm a big fan of sitting at the bow of a ship or motorboat and putting my face into the wind. I think its great...also great when there is a good breeze coming down into the valley where I live. Good during the summer anyways...during the winter not as nice...I usually duck and hide from the windchill.
Interesting thing tho. I wonder how many idiosyncracies my fellow Canadians and I have![]()
Distance! Never stand to close to a Canadian. We got space and we like it.Originally posted by VW-IceFire:
Interesting thing tho. I wonder how many idiosyncracies my fellow Canadians and I have![]()
Just yesterday I was visiting a buddy(Ricardo). He's half German and half Spanish. When he says goodbye to people, male or female, it involves a hug and kisses. I had warned him before.
When his arms went up and toward me I stopped him with a nice double block. I told him to go easy with the Spanish culture(as I warned him before)or I`d give him a taste of the angry Canadian moose culture.
Oldman, I'm pretty close to Erlangen. Do you remember Lichtenfels?
Another odd thing about us Canucks, when we meet someone, and right after we exchange names, we ask the other person "Where are ya from?".
This freaks a few people out but don't be alrmed; it's Canadian diplomacy. The reason we ask is because we want to talk about YOU. This usually makes people feel more comfortable. Besides that, we probably got a cousin there.
But that draft stuff is just a little too wierd for me. Growing up by the sea in Nova Scotia(very windy), I learnt to be afraid when there was no draft.![]()
Hehe, yes it could happen. I usually drive with my window open in my car. But I know a lot of people who dislike this - If I sit at the back seats and got all the dust and flies and stuff in my face, which which not hit the driver I dislike it also, besided the fact that it became very noisy in a car at high speed. Maybe this is also a cause. A fully open window at 110 mph is no real fun for me
For houses, I think it is a different story. German houses are usually made of stone. The high mass of stone compared to wooden houses is able to save energy (temperature). In summer itâ´s usually colder inside the house due the colder walls, so open the window and letting hotter air in will rise the energy level and warm up the masonry. So closed windows keep the house cold.
In winter itâ´s vice versa. The walls are warmed up by the warm summer. If you let the windows open all the time you waste a lot of energy and the masonry get cold faster. Energy is very expansive in Europe. So maybe this paranoia are also resulting the different oil consumption between USA and Germany.
In high end housed in germany you even have no heating - they called "passiv houses" because they have no active heating. They are heated by the thermal energy of the human bodies ( 100 W/h from each person) and the thermal "waste" of electial devices like PCâ´s. In such houses itâ´s forbidden to open the windows - they have a mechanical ventilation. This is even hard for most germans!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
http://www.tsb.wetterau.de/engl/engl...neh-eng-n1.htm
Hi Peter,
after reading your explanation I think I see. The oddity really doesn't exsist. I think the writers of the articles wetre blowing the reality out of proportion.
One thing I did notice here is that no matter how cold it is in the mornings, the windows still get opened and often the bedding is hanging out the windows.
And yes, who in their right mind would want to be on the autobahn at 200km plus with the windows opened even slightly?
The writers are telling fish stories me thinks.![]()