# Now that the Norks are \*really\* going to nuke us, I have one question: what's up with their lids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271 "2013-03-29T16:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Pantani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pantani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantani)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/61 "2013-04-01T21:00:13Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The same thing happened in East Germany during the Cold War. The Soviets kept everyone out of the area within 5 km (I think) of the border with West Germany, so it reverted to wilderness of sorts. Don’t know if it’s still that way or not. > > The first thing I noticed in those pix was all the fruit salad on the gernerals’ uniforms. They’re too young to have been in the fighting during the Korean War, so North Korea must give out ribbons pretty freely. Even more freely than the US. A lot of it has now been converted to National Parks to formally preserve what was unintentionally created. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/62 "2013-04-01T21:06:21Z")
> [@XT](#): > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cG7ZVBXQII) is Kim Jong Style. :p…! Brilliant. A shame, but brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/63 "2013-04-01T21:16:54Z")
They’re called [Epicanthic Folds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicanthic_folds) and they are typical in all people of Asian des— oh… not that kind of “lids”. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/64 "2013-04-01T21:25:11Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > The photo shows the ranks large stars .. means top brass. > 2 = Lieut. Gen > 3. Colonol General > 4. General of the . (eg army,navy, airforce, missile ) > > I thought the photo shows a 2, 2x3 and a 4. > > So they are not showing rank, two guys with the same stars have different hats. > I think the two different hat styles are just fashion or formality. My WAG earlier in the thread was that the big Soviet style hats are army and the other, French style hats are maybe Airforce or whatever they call their rocket artillery forces. Still haven’t been able to confirm that, and doesn’t look like anyone else has found a cite either. Not sure why, but Google is turning up a blank on North Korean officer uniforms. I did find a [cite](http://www.armyrecognition.com/north_korea_korean_army_ranks_combat_uniforms_uk_f/north_korea_korean_army_ranks_military_soldier_combat_field_uniforms_dress_grades_uniformes_combat.html) confirming my earlier take on the collar tab ranks though. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/65 "2013-04-01T21:58:31Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > Am I the only one that parsed the OP’s question to mean “What’s up with their _eye_ lids?” 😕😛 > [@gonzoron](#): > > They’re called [Epicanthic Folds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicanthic_folds) and they are typical in all people of Asian des— oh… not that kind of “lids”. > > Nevermind. The great poet [Rainer Rilke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke) wrote his own epitaph, which is chiseled by his grave (with the poet’s lineation): Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust, Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel Lidern My take on a translation for the purpose of this post (which cannot get the impact of the words as lined in German): Rose, oh pure contradiction, desire, To be no-one’s sleep under so many Lids Work that out, why don’t you. Thanks to all for this lovely hijack of a who-would’ve-thought-it-would-show up here thread. GQ at its finest. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/66 "2013-04-01T22:24:57Z")
Is it possible that the latest test was in fact a fraud, conducted with conventional explosives? I keep reading reports that anomalously little radiation was detected. ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/67 "2013-04-02T15:48:07Z")
They have to know that they have no strike capability what-so-ever. So, I can only imagine that this is motivation “the people”. North Koreans version of Putin-style glamour shots? Maybe he should go on a camping trip with Putin and they can make a bunch of “strappin’ man” shots wrestling bears, alligators, and a T-REX! ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/68 "2013-04-02T15:56:22Z")
Perhaps the lids are based on individual haircut preference, ie. large bowl, small bowl, side walls, etc. Sidenote: What are all those medals for? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/69 "2013-04-02T16:15:13Z")
[QUOTE=Lukeinva] Sidenote: What are all those medals for? [/QUOTE] The fruit salad (a.k.a. ribbons) on their chests? They aren’t (necessarily) medals, though they can be…usually, (in the US and I think most countries) they denote awards or represent types of service (there are ribbons denoting medals, ribbons denoting combat service, or ‘I was there’ type service in specific theaters, etc). In this case, that’s some big fruit salad there, so it’s probably mostly fluff and feathers that generals award themselves just to make it look impressive. I don’t know the specifics of NK fruit salad though…maybe some of those guys fought (as kids) in the Korean War, though they don’t look old enough to me…if so, there would be ribbons for that and for combat service, if they are like the US. ETA: Found [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_bar) on Wiki that might explain it better. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/70 "2013-04-02T16:25:54Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > The missiles are fictional. They can fly in any curve they want. The missiles are going to make thousands of mid-flight course corrections so that they appear to fly straight in relation to that map. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/71 "2013-04-02T16:50:18Z")
When I was on a NATO Ex with a number of former Eastern-Bloc countries, the size of their hat did _actually correspond with rank_ leading to some, in my opinion, almost comically huge hats. ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/72 "2013-04-02T17:33:52Z")
> [@](#): > > The text on the map, which shows the west coast of North America, says “ **Plan to hit the U.S. mainland** ” Sounds like he has Dr. Evil on his side, at least… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271/73 "2013-04-02T17:34:48Z")
You knew someone was going to ask: cites? Not doubting, but I think it would be funny to look at. ETA: To **Poysyn**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-the-norks-are-really-going-to-nuke-us-i-have-one-question-whats-up-with-their-lids/654271.md?page=3)