We have a similar one here in the US. People think if you go outside when it's too cold, you'll get sick.

Not only colds, but you also get stiff necks! According to my mother, it's almost instantly. Leaving two windows open makes here neck stiffer than a priest in a kindergarten, but only inside. Standing in the wind outside is perfectly fine.

Also Russia and probably most eastern European countries. One of my kids will catch a cold and the first thing my mother or grandmother will ask is if they were somewhere drafty.

God, on one hand, catching a draft makes you die and then on the other STOSSLÜFTEN!!

Similar in France, also airco giving you all kinds of symptoms

I've heard that cited in stories, usually older. A baby dies and they blame someone leaving the door open too long and letting in a draft.

I didn't know it's a thing in Germany too. 😊 Drafts are also blamed for pretty much any unexpected ailment, from rheumatism to toothache. And off course cold, flu and so on.

That's totally cultural, in the US it's dehydration

I don't know about that, I always get a pink eye and my sinuses start to hurt if I stay in draft for a longer period of time.

Oh, that kind of draft

Yeah, but then they go and open all the windows to "change the air" no matter the weather.

I used to work with a bunch of Germans in the US. I came in to the office one time at about 4:30am in February. One of the guys had all the windows open when the outdoor temperature was something like -20F.

Like Moritz, I think that avoiding the draft is more important than changing the air at that point. 🙄

I also had an old manufacturing guy tell me that drinking cold water in the summer would kill you because of the shock to your system.

Similar to "fan death" in Korea, where they think running a fan in your bedroom while you sleep can kill you.

Same in Czechia.