sunnysider

Apricale: operaio 44enne muore per una probabile congestione dopo aver bevuto una bibita ghiacciata - Quotidiano online della provincia di Imperia

Just when is this senseless slaughter going to stop?

highlander1

...as soon as the epidemic of ''cervicale'' will take over. and ''colpo della strega....

philat98

Just one of the hazards of living in Italy.

modicasa

Well to be fair - drinking very cold drinks when your body temperature is high, is not good for you at all, anywhere in the world.

sunnysider

Are you saying congestione exists modicasa?

That you can die from a cold drink in a bar?

What happened to the other patrons that day?

One thing i have never understood in italy - if congestione is such an ever present threat, why don't beer and soft drink bottles/cans carry health warning? Or do they.

Would be interested in your reply as always modicas but have a slight fear that you have gone native.

jonwel

Well, the fact that something is not that good for some people doesn't mean that everyone's going to die from it or even suffer from it. And then if not many people do suffer, it's not a proof that it's completely harmless.
I personally don't suffer from cold drinks (so I haven't gone native) but I know people who do and have to run to the loo a moment later!

As in a lot of things I think we need a middle road. The Italians are absurdly obsessed with health and the dangers around them, from the cold especially. But the British really don't take these things seriously enough. You see men going around in T-shirts in the middle of the winter or girls with bare legs at -5°C (it can't be because they can't afford tights!). There's a high rheumatism rate in the UK - could that really not have anything to do with it? And I don't know the figures for lung disease.

sunnysider

mm

Very reasonable reply jon but possibly a bit too reasonable.

I have had a fair few Italians tell me about the potentially serious implications of congestione - in one exchange I was pretty much told that I was ignorant and that "we" (the Italians) "invented medicine". I have also been told about folk dying of congestione after eating a bit of water melon. I have also read stuff in the Sardinian press about folk dying of congestione - in fact I must admit to having a warped fascination, akin to the first cuckoo, in looking for the first reported death of the summer from it.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable at times from certain things, including life, living and breathing, I am prepared to accept but that's a long way from seeing something as a mortal peril.

I do rather admire the Italian concern for health and their physical state but I think on balance prefer the Brit approach - life's too short.

There was a report from a brave Italian medico recently saying that congestione was a myth spread by generations of Italian mothers or something of that ilk. I will try and find it, Though of course he may have been silenced.

Anyway, jon, what are you doing going out in minus 5 temperatures to look at girls' legs - you should be wrapped up inside, or, if venturing outside, so swathed in scarves that you can barely see

(slight autumn summer in the UK at the mo - may go for a pedal later, work up a sweat, sit in a nice beer garden I know with a coldish beer)

modicasa

Its true the italians whisper things like 'congestione' in awe but take the wives tales out of it, its just a rush of blood - which can result in something like an aneurysm or a haemorrhage - depends on the state of your veins. If you're hot and drink ice cold drinks, you will have a rush of blood to the stomach to raise the temperature of what you have just imbibed, so depending on your health (and lorry drivers arent usually the perfect specimens) it could be bad for you.. Just sayin.....

jonwel

Ooooh dear, you mustn't sweat! Tell the Italians in vain that it's an essential bodily function.
Actually I'm rarely in the UK in winter time and these are usually terror stories told by Italians (while I'm in Italy looking at Italian girls' stockinged legs). But Brits do confirm.

sunnysider

Well i can confirm that it is true that many younger brit women out on the town at night will go out somewhat lightly clothed in at times seriously cold weather. But few come to any harm.The italian attitude to the human body, particularly in view of the country's strong religious background/culture/heritage always strikes me as somewhat odd - they seem to have so little faith in god's creation. I'm a confirmed atheist but generally think the human body is pretty remarkable/tough/adaptable to a broad range of conditions and climates. From the vibes i pick up from a fair few italians i wouldn't trust the italian god to wire a plug/design the most basic product/get the key in the door. A right old bungler.Can't help but feel jon that these "terror stories", if they come from men, are somewhat induced by their women if they are accompanying them - more politic to act outraged/shocked/cincerned than to be thought looking/fascinated.Those stockings are probably tights by the way.All the best, on a tab and can't delete these last two letters ....ed

jonwel

I know they're tights, not stockings, but I've never heard the expression "tighted legs"!

Lorna at Vicenza

I have tights AND stockings - the self hold up kind that don't need a suspender belt.

Garbatellamike

oh my god, duffer will be along shortly and you have given him a huge opportunity there...What were you thinking

Lorna at Vicenza

I wasn't thinking. If it helps to put him off I also have some thick, fluffy socks to wear around the house as I don't like "ciabatte" and things which bang on the floor with each step I make. First thing I do when I get in is kick my shoes or boots off. I also hate feeling strangled and won't wear anything high up around my neck. I should be dead by now according to most Italians as I'm bare footed and bare "necked" nearly all year round.

Pulaski

Utter nonsense. If there was a shred of truth to it, Americans would be dropping like flies. The amount of ice routinely served in non-alcoholic and cocktails in America is insane. Given that summer temperatures across much of the US, both in the southern half and everywhere that isn't coastal all the way north upto and into Canada, regularly gets up into the 35°C-40°C range, it's not like we're short of seriously hot weather, but I have never heard of a death being attributed to drinking a drink with ice in it.

My view is that if there is any ice left when the drink is gone, I should have had more drink and less ice. This is obviously not a view shared by Americans, including Mrs P.

Maybe it was the work that killed him?