# Can This Really Kill Someone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869 "2003-06-01T02:20:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/1 "2003-06-01T02:20:01Z")
one of my friends said that pouring warm oil (i don’t know if vegetable oil would work, or if it’s a specific kind) in someone’s ear will kill them. is he just crazy? if you said he was, i wouldn’t be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/2 "2003-06-01T02:28:48Z")
I’m pretty sure he’s crazy. Even pouring really hot oil in probably wouldn’t _kill_ them, though they might wish it had. Ask him by what mechanism death is alleged to occur? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/3 "2003-06-01T02:40:32Z")
Sorry, that’s not an effective way to kill anyone. People have been putting warm oil into other people’s ears for millenia, usually olive oil to treat ear aches. Non-fatal. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/4 "2003-06-01T03:16:31Z")
Yes, but only if you use an ice pick to really jam it in there good. (N.B. No, I am most certainly not suggesting this.) ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_VA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@Alex\_VA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_VA)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/5 "2003-06-01T03:23:28Z")
If doctors of the ear suggest flushing you’re ear out with warm watere for excess earwax, then I suppose warm oil has not that mush effect ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/6 "2003-06-01T03:24:58Z")
If you just _have_ to insert liquid into someone’s ear, try a little **cold** water/oil. It would be a good idea to have a few friends around to catch your buddy when he loses his balance and becomes insta-dizzy. ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/7 "2003-06-01T03:25:34Z")
That’s warm water mixed w/ soap. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/8 "2003-06-01T04:38:58Z")
It could be that your friend has been reading . . . Hamlet. OTOMH, I don’t think the liquid was specifically identified. However, you’ve got a murder by means of liquid poured into the ear. Which leads me to wonder- Does Gypsymoth really have questions about warm oil or is the OP just an ingenious ploy to get us to discuss Hamlet instead of just saying “Do yer own homework!”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/9 "2003-06-01T04:40:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DocCathode \* > \*\*Does Gypsymoth really have questions about warm oil or is the OP just an ingenious ploy to get us to discuss Hamlet instead of just saying “Do yer own homework!”. \*\* If it is, it’s the most ingeniously roundabout way of doing it I can imagine, so I say he deserves the answers. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/10 "2003-06-01T04:51:22Z")
Absolutely… if you put it in the ear [with this](http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pressurewasherzone/45gpm40psi20.html) ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-really-kill-someone/178869/11 "2003-06-01T05:23:06Z")
Yeah, I remember our family doctor (who even made house calls back in the dream time) pouring hot oil in my ears to clear out wax and other jetsam. It hurt enough to make me yell and dear old dad would once again ask me if I were some kinda pansy. I think he would have liked to pour molten lead in my ears to see if I would wilt like the sissy pansies. In truth I began my pansy-wilt as soon as I found out I was going to get the oil treatment. Yowch!