Durchzug

[93Regina]

The German war against drafts

Fresh air or deathly drafts? Germans’ belief in the myth that breezes
make you sick is completely overblown. This Handelsblatt editor is hot
and bothered.
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As temperatures rise across Germany, there’s a heated battle brewing
on the trains: It’s a war of the drafts.

Many Germans, especially older ones, will do anything they can to
avoid Durchzug, the word for a draft of air moving through a closed
space. Air movement gives you a cold or the flu or a stiff neck, they
believe. So they keep the windows on the train closed even as
temperatures reach egg-cooking levels.

Many reasonable people know that colds are caused by viruses, the
movement of air on an overheated body cools it, and that opening
windows is the only way to not be boiled alive. And yet, the Durchzug
believers are in control, closing all the windows and forcing the rest
of the passengers to stew in their own sweat.