Is it just me, or do the Swiss (and perhaps others?) have a misconception that a draft will make them sick?

I've encountered this more than once, from intelligent people. Even bringing up the "a virus causes a cold, not some cold air" doesn't do it.

Am I the odd one?

ah the Föhn. Don't they also dry their hair with it?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%B6hn

or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%B6hn for the easily-upset

Durchzug the late Eugene Epstein managed to write a whole chapter on the Swiss and their morbid fear of draughts. See http://www.bergli.ch/catalog/product...products_id=44

PS. They aren't too keen on drafts either...

Luckily, as an auslander, I have managed to avoid military service completely...
dave

Not the foehn, just an open window!

must the Föhn be on or off then?


And how do they cope with the mould - because officially, it's an unwritten rule (have I oxymoron-ed there ) that you must open your windows for an hour a day to let the air circulate or you cannot complain about mould.

Is his conclusion that it is illogical?

The British don't need to open their windows, the wind comes through anyway. I can remember the fitted carpet lifting as the wind was forced up through floor boards.

Airing Swiss bed linnen and rooms is done to a tight schedule. After airing, windows are closed tight untill the next airing is due...

Off.

Good question! The next time it comes up, I'll just tell them I'm airing out for mold.

Just to stick up for Septic Shell: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/draft

Apparently in Hollywood, sorry, American English, drafts can be windy too

here I come to save the day!
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mold

He recounts a silly tale of how a Swiss friend discovered the draught in a restaurant was coming from the bubbles in his mineral water...

If someone's that sensitive to feeling a slight breeze, then perhaps he deserves to believe he might get sick from it!

Hrumph. I can't help it the Queen doesn't know how to spell!

We used to classify our Swiss colleagues when they called in with "flu" as "one window open" or "two windows open" etc depending on how long they were off.

Odd people.

Our Hauswart (careteaker) even came round last year explaining that open windows cause higher heating bills and sickness. I then had to explain:
1. Scottish weather
2. We had no radiators turned on
3. Why I'm bumming around the house in shorts and bare feet in November

Why is it the highly educated ones also buy into this?!

We are the same with the windows. I mentioned to a co-worker today that we keep a window open in the bedroom unless it is bone-shattering cold (well below freezing) with a strong breeze. The look on his face was priceless. (and my husband is swiss!)

I wonder how expat Swiss in, say, Scotland would manage (in fact - I know one there, maybe ask...)... Start nailing the furniture down?

Oh, and you can always spot me on the way into work. I'm the only bloke still in shirt sleeves at the station in the morning, although it's been that way for 2 months now

Some people count the first flower of spring, the first colored leaf for fall. We count the first scarf-covered neck. The first one this year was in July, I believe.

That made me laugh I remember as a kid in Scotland scraping the ice off the inside of the windows to see out in the morning Yesterday I saw a women on a bike with a big winter hat on under her bike helmet and a thick winter coat on. Me & my 4 month old were in t-shirts.

I got so sick of being told of the huge temperature fluctuations in our air conditioned and sealed office that I brought in a thermometer to prove that it was all in their mind. Didn't work though, the draft is apparently a subtle thing that cannot be recorded by conventional means.

My ex wife (god I like the sound of that) would physically shiver if she saw snow on the television and would regularly tell me I was insane for going outdoors in a T-Shirt after September.

Mad as a bag of snakes.