• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Culture-Bound Syndrome Or Folk Illness

It is an odd - if not interesting list!

Also, I didn't mean any offence :(
 
Nobody's taking offence, Cherrybomb! :D

And if they are, they can get on their bikes and I'll let their tyres down.
 
davidplankton said:
Where's The UK's Culture-Bound syndrome? I want one.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind the paperback edition... ;)
 
garrick92 said:
cherrybomb said:
Also, I didn't mean any offence :(
Click to expand...

If that was to me, please be assured that no offence was taken -- absolutely none -- and I'm sorry if I gave that impression.
Click to expand...

Thanks - It wasn't meant for you, I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't trying to be offensive to anyone!

Fan death is my fave too, OneWingedBird :twisted:
 
I've read that the French are obsessed with their livers and will buy over the counter medicines to coddle them.

When I first learned this fact 30-odd years ago (in a book about the power of placebos, no less! :lol: ) it was illustrated with a French advertisment for a 'liver-cleansing' drug featuring a man holding open his chest cavity while a hose played neatly on the relevant organ.

What do we Brits obsess over? The government wants us to focus on how many portions of vegetables a day we need or how many units of alcohol are safe but I'm not sure we're taking much notice.

Perhaps it's something so ingrained into us that we don't even notice it ourselves any more. ;)
 
I read a few years ago that French doctors regularly diagnose something called "heavy legs", a condition which seems unknown outside of France. I *think* it relates to a general feeling of being rundown or lacking in energy which has no obvious cause.

In the UK and elsewhere in the Anglosphere I think some food intolerances might fall within this category. Before everyone starts getting worked up I'm not talking about serious allergies which lead to anaphylactic shock (although the prevalence of such conditions when compared to 25 years ago may warrang a thread in itself) but the the rather more vague claims of "intolerance" to various substances even though no physical symptoms are apparent. On occasion such "intolerances" seem to be more akin to fussy eating than any actual ailment.
 
Quake42 said:
I read a few years ago that French doctors regularly diagnose something called "heavy legs", a condition which seems unknown outside of France. I *think* it relates to a general feeling of being rundown or lacking in energy which has no obvious cause.

In the UK and elsewhere in the Anglosphere I think some food intolerances might fall within this category. Before everyone starts getting worked up I'm not talking about serious allergies which lead to anaphylactic shock (although the prevalence of such conditions when compared to 25 years ago may warrang a thread in itself) but the the rather more vague claims of "intolerance" to various substances even though no physical symptoms are apparent. On occasion such "intolerances" seem to be more akin to fussy eating than any actual ailment.
Click to expand...

In some cases its not so much an intolerance as sensible eating. If I eat too much salami, cheese, bread made with buttermilk. or biscuits then my cholesterol levels will rise; something thats not the case with everyone.

But most salamis' have more than 30% fat content so its not the healthiest of food.

I don't have a food intolerance: due to my metabolism I just have to be sparing with my intake of certain foods.
 
In some cases its not so much an intolerance as sensible eating.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, and nothing wrong with that, but the number of people (typically middle class female 20 and 30 somethings) who claim "intolerance" to something or other is quite astounding. Eg when a meeting with a sandwich lunch is organised a whole raft of peculiar dietary requirements tend to be emailed over.

See also "vegetarians" who eat fish and, on occasion, chicken. You're not vegetarian - you just don't like red meat! It's not the same thing!
 
Quake42 said:
In some cases its not so much an intolerance as sensible eating.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, and nothing wrong with that, but the number of people (typically middle class female 20 and 30 somethings) who claim "intolerance" to something or other is quite astounding. Eg when a meeting with a sandwich lunch is organised a whole raft of peculiar dietary requirements tend to be emailed over.

See also "vegetarians" who eat fish and, on occasion, chicken. You're not vegetarian - you just don't like red meat! It's not the same thing!
Click to expand...

I agree, its partly just fads.
 
I agree.
I especially dislike when people have a 'intolerance' but say they have an allergy. It makes people with real allergies seem whiney.
 
escargot1 said:
What do we Brits obsess over? The government wants us to focus on how many portions of vegetables a day we need or how many units of alcohol are safe but I'm not sure we're taking much notice.

Perhaps it's something so ingrained into us that we don't even notice it ourselves any more. ;)
Click to expand...
Speaking as an external observer, from a careful study of British culture - largely through TV and Radio programmes - I'd have to say you are a nation obsessed with the gastrointestinal tract.

IBS, roughage intake, regularity, etc all seem to be a part of the national health obsession. Of course, my view of it may be skewed slightly, since there is a predominance of middle aged comedians in the TV and Radio output I have been exposed to.

A similar survey of US TV programming might suggest mental health as the national obsession, although this is possibly biased by the number of neurotics producing TV programmes. A better approach might be to observe the advertising for medical treatment, which is much more open in the US than in the UK or Australia (it is legal to advertise prescription medication in the US). Again, from my limited survey, mental health would seem to be the predominant obsession.

As for the national health obsession of Australia, I'm not 100% sure. I don't think we're as obsessed with the GI tract as the British, or mental health as the Americans. There do seem to be a lot of ads on TV about various forms of cancer, so that could be it.
 
ramonmercado said:
Quake42 said:
In some cases its not so much an intolerance as sensible eating.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, and nothing wrong with that, but the number of people (typically middle class female 20 and 30 somethings) who claim "intolerance" to something or other is quite astounding. Eg when a meeting with a sandwich lunch is organised a whole raft of peculiar dietary requirements tend to be emailed over.

See also "vegetarians" who eat fish and, on occasion, chicken. You're not vegetarian - you just don't like red meat! It's not the same thing!
Click to expand...

I agree, its partly just fads.
Click to expand...

That and some people have realised that the cook/chef will then have to cook a bespoke meal just for them. I know some people have genuine allergies but I've managed three restaurants and some of the crap people pull is shocking:

The woman who informed us she was severely nut intolerant only after eating our nut Tiramasu dessert for weeks then turning up with another woman she was obviously just trying to impress ..

The man who insisted his veg was boiled in bottled water ... he provided the water and veg then even successfully managed to get a discount on his meal ... but not for the 40 or so people he'd brought with him ... drumroll ... that, again, he was obviously just trying to impress ..

The man who complained that his peas weren't green enough in colour ... we bought green food colouring for his future visits ..

"Can you guarantee to me that if I order the fish, it won't have any bones in it?" .... yes I can absolutely guarantee that if you order a jelly fish, it won't have bones in it. As for other species, because God/Allah/whoever/whatever made that fish and we don't own a X-Ray machine, sadly, there is a high chance that there will be at least one bone in it ... so no, you don't get to craftily pre-plan getting a free meal by finding that bone then blaming me .. idiot ...


Attention seekers that make life harder for customers with genuine requirements.
 
Speaking as an external observer, from a careful study of British culture - largely through TV and Radio programmes - I'd have to say you are a nation obsessed with the gastrointestinal tract.

IBS, roughage intake, regularity, etc all seem to be a part of the national health obsession.
Click to expand...

Interesting you say that - I've never picked up on this but if you want to see a nation truly obsessed with the gastrointestinal tract hop on over to Germany. People regularly chat to each other about their bowel activity and toilets even come with a "viewing platform" the better to inspect the contents of the bowl/bowel. Extraordinary.
 
They told me that about Holland and I saw only one viewing-platform bog*! Most were like standard issue Brit-bogs.

It was but a brief encounter, as I could manage only a wee. :(

*I don't remember any in Germany - but perhaps I wasn't looking for them there.
 
I've been to Holland and saw the 'inspection platform' in loos there - somebody told me that the toilet bowls were imported from Germany.
 
Im convinced most of 'gluten intolerance' we see is actually intolerance to the terrible, terrible Chorleywood bread we're pretty much forced to eat.

I suspect if these people got the chance to eat proper bread, that had proved for hours, rather than the minutes Chorleywood allows, with all its enzymes and additives, they woulkd have far less problem.
Click to expand...

I remember a thread on a popular website where someone was saying her French au pair :? was complaining that eating sandwiches for lunch was making her ill.
The other posters on the thread agreed saying that if they ate sandwiches for lunch everyday then they would be ill too.
Is this where we have got to? People getting an attack of the vapours if forced to eat bread products?
 
If you ate the same stuff every day, you'd feel a bit ill too.
Sometimes it's because what you are eating doesn't have all the right nutrients, and sometimes it's just about variety - eating an unvaried diet can make you feel nauseous.
 
Mythopoeika said:
I've been to Holland and saw the 'inspection platform' in loos there - somebody told me that the toilet bowls were imported from Germany.
Click to expand...

These were the norm in Hungary when I lived there 10 years ago.
 
I'm quite sure that bad reactions to gluten are real. Years of careless, omnivorous scoffing made me scoff at any faddists. To turn into a wheat-abstainer took many years of wilfully ignoring the connection between my aches and pains and the stuff I was consuming with great pleasure. I actually preferred to think I was just getting old.

I was reluctant to see any harm in such pleasant things as croissants for breakfast and real ale in the evening. Removing wheat and barley-related ingredients from my diet removed the eternal indigestion within a few weeks. Symptoms I had not associated with food at all - muscle pain, arthritic joints, tiredness, irritability and depression were reduced to levels I had not known for years.

Eating out can be so awkward that I will sometimes throw aside the diet for a reckless binge. The consequences will be marked but mercifully short: a day or so of acid tummy, three or four days of aching limbs and joints. I have no doubt that returning to bread and beer as a habit would put years on me again! But, God, I miss them, sometimes! :(
 
In my own case, I've just recently established for myself that I have a slight digestive intolerance to margarine. For years, it's made me fart more than I should.
After eliminating it from my diet (and going back to lovely butter), I definitely fart MUCH less now.
I think I know why - it's just that margarine/vegetable oil spread is really plasticised fat, and the molecules are difficult to digest.
 
escargot1 said:
I'm baffled. How can there be such a condition as farting too much? :lol:
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't know where I got the idea that the British Re obsessed with their GI tract...
 
escargot1 said:
I'm baffled. How can there be such a condition as farting too much? :lol:
Click to expand...

Well, if I come over to visit you and you feed me lots of margarine, I could amply demonstrate! :twisted:
 
That's not fair. I'd be at a disadvantage. Nothing I eat makes me fart too much.

Well, even enough, really. :(

About 30-odd years ago I used to work the night shift at the local main post office. This involved meeting trains to load and unload mail sacks in the early hours. Most of the regular relief were obsessed with farting and claimed to have fine-tuned their diets to Olympic standards to this end.

(British Rail clerical staff enjoyed a similar culture but alas these two Herculean teams never clashed.)

The Post Office farting champion was Greenie. He could rattle one off to order, loud or quiet as required, usually when a colleague bent to retrieve a particularly heavy mail sack, and always... fragrant.

He claimed to have stood all day fishing in a Scottish loch wearing all-in-one waders/dungarees which actually inflated slightly from the pressure of his flatulence.

Last year at the local beer festival I met up with a group of retired postmen and we sat on a station trolley and reminisced about those far-off times. 8)

Poor Greenie had died only months before. Can't have been very old. Cancer.
We speculated that he'd just rotted from the inside.
 
Wasn't there a news story a few years back about an instruction that all post office sorting staff should go outside to fart?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top