Cecil link. While WD-40 may not cure your achy joints, it’s killer halibut bait (not that I would do anything illegal like that). Sprayed on a hunk of normal bait, it causes the mighty flatfish to swoon.
Re: rubbing your ear to relieve burn pain. I first saw this about 40 years ago when I was working with some Korean contractors in Vietnam. One of the workers burned his finger on some solder and immediately grabbed his earlobe. I asked what that was all about and was told that because the earlobe is cooler than most areas of the body, the heat from the burn was helped to dissipate.
MODERATOR NOTE: Thread is from 2007, bumped in post #23, Oct 2013, because the column has got to the front page. – CKDH
Koreans in Vietnam? Sounds like a war story. Were there any Germans or Japanese there? Or Commie Nazis?
My grandmother told me long ago about pinching your earlobe between the burned finger and your thumb to help the heat dissipate. I do it all the time when I’m cooking. Try it - it works!
The active ingredient in Salon-Pas patches is capsaicin. I put one of the patches on my sore back one evening and my skin soon began to feel a burning sensation (like your lips after eating a burrito smothered in green chile). But I left it on because the back pain was not as noticeable. I’ve heard since that the burning sensation kind of overloads the pain-message neurons. When I finally took the patch off, my skin was all red like almost a third-degree burn, but that soon faded. And, surprisingly, my back pain remained lessened and I was able to sleep comfortably all night. Does the capsaicin ointment Cecil mentions work the same way?
And if you don’t happen to have a ready source of cold water available? And which takes longer to do, reach up to the ear, or walk to wherever the tap is?
Not that I think the earlobe thing has any true value, just sayin’.
You should probably know what the hell you’re talking about before posting. Philco-Ford had a large contingent of Korean civilian contractors in Vietnam. I worked with them on a daily basis for a year. A man by the name of Chung Nam Sik was my mentor. As mentioned, Korea also had a military contingent there, as did the Turks and other countries. The NVA and VC had a healthy fear and respect for the ROK Marines, who were merciless in battle.
Yes, I knew that. I was joking. I remember a National Geographic from mid-1966 or so that showed South Korean troops arriving to assist their American allies.
It absolutely has value. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll be a believer. Of course, I have pretty big earlobes, so that might have something to do with it.
I think the folklore related to WD-40 as a joint pain reliever arises from an important constituent of WD-40, namely dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). This powerful solvent has been used extensively by athletes and horse trainers to reduce bruising, absorb medications and drugs through the skin, and also to reduce joint inflammation (it is a banned substance in horse racing). Studies on DMSO’s actual efficacy are mixed, it tends to be used mostly by alternative medicine advocates. Just thought people would like to know the origin of the folklore.
With respect, just how do you propose to demonstrate the effectiveness? Comparison studies? Or are you forgetting that the plural of anecdote isn’t data? :dubious:
With respect, you could try it yourself and form your own opinion. I’m not claiming that it heals burns, just that the earlobe being a relatively cool part of the body makes an effective heat sink.
What do you think is the better heat sink? A part of the body connected to a blood circulation system that keeps a temperature sufficient to register 98.6° F inside your mouth? Or a system that keeps a temperature in most places we live of substantially less, else we get uncomfortable? We are talking the atmosphere around us, if this question is obscure.
You’d do MUCH better to lick the burn and blow on it. The earlobe is NOT a ‘heat sink’, whatever else it may be. :rolleyes:
Not that you need any more convincing, but there was a ROK (Korean) compound adjacent to ours, at the US 1st Division in Dian (near Saigon), ca. 1968. We even took our jazz band and played a concert there, and I can assure you they were either real Koreans or an incredible facsimile thereof.
