Most Serbs are afraid of "promaja". <style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }</style>
Don’t open the
windows or “promaja” will kill you. Ask any Serb about it.
(I can't translate that, but it becomes when the air blows between open door and window, “draft” maybe).
Do you have a word for it in your language? Are you afraid of “promaja”?
Hi Dragana,
Not at all unique, indeed :-). And "fear" is the word (or paranoia :-D).
Maybe it has changed a bit, but when I was still living in good old Germany leaving e.g. the window slightly ajar on the train in sweltering 35 C summer heat (95 F) was bound to earn you a stern rebuke from a fellow passenger. Said passenger would then insist loudly on it being shut immediately in the interest of preserving the health of all present (this was when air conditioning was just starting to take off and restricted to the InterCity Express trains, aptly named ICE trains).
Now, I have heard on multiple occasions that there is a similar superstition in Korea that sleeping in a room with a fan on and the door closed will kill you - but I cannot confirm this from practical exposure to Korean culture. At least, there is a Wikipedia article for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_deathSeriously? There isn't such a thing as fear among Serbians. :D
