Something to Sneeze at
Last night, while signing Basil to sleep, I sneezed. Out of his near-slumber state he kindly mumbled, "bless you, Mommy". I thought it was kinda cute and started thinking about the whole sneeze/bless you thing. There's "bless you" and "God bless you", I know someone who just says "bless" and them some that don't say anything at all. I always say bless you to people. Why? I have no idea...probably because that's what we did in my house growing up. Why does anyone say it? I know, lame sixth grade question, but I've never gotten a sufficient answer let alone the same answer twice.
So I decided to do a little poll of my readers (all 4 of you!) to see what you thought.
Do you say something when someone sneezes?
What do you say?
Why on earth do you say it?
What do you think in general?
Last night, while signing Basil to sleep, I sneezed. Out of his near-slumber state he kindly mumbled, "bless you, Mommy". I thought it was kinda cute and started thinking about the whole sneeze/bless you thing. There's "bless you" and "God bless you", I know someone who just says "bless" and them some that don't say anything at all. I always say bless you to people. Why? I have no idea...probably because that's what we did in my house growing up. Why does anyone say it? I know, lame sixth grade question, but I've never gotten a sufficient answer let alone the same answer twice.
So I decided to do a little poll of my readers (all 4 of you!) to see what you thought.
Do you say something when someone sneezes?
What do you say?
Why on earth do you say it?
What do you think in general?
7 Comments:
1. Only when I know the person usually. And even then, not always.
2. Bless you, gesundheit, (if I'm at work, "Salud", which literally means "Health")
3. It's proper I guess. And seeing as how I'm sooooo proper (judging from my last pee-related post), it seems only natural.
4. I've heard the reason it is said is because your heart stops when you sneeze, so people say "God bless you" or "Bless you" as a sort of prayer to keep you from dying so to speak. Also, I think some older culture like the Indians or Yankees or White Sox believed that your soul would try to escape when you sneezed, so people would bless you in an attempt to keep it within your body.
1. Depends. Sometimes I'll say it to strangers but nothing too showy (i.e. in a lecture hall in a class with 200 people in it, if someone sneezes I won't yell "BLESS YOU!")
Sometimes I'll say bless you if the person sneezes more than once. But I tend to be really A.D.D. and oblivious so sometimes I won't even notice.
2. I normally say God Bless you or bless you.
3. I dunno...that's just what I grew up hearing and saying
4. Normally, it's an excuse to pray for my brother or sister. Sometimes I say it out of common courtesy. If Teri (my sister) violently sneezed three times in a row while we were alone and in the same room, it would be weird to ignore it. It's a way of acknowledging, showing them that you care, so to speak.
1. Most of the time, if someone doesn't beat me to it.
2. "Bless you" but when I was growing up I heard "gesundheit" a lot.
3. It was learned.
4. I did a search and found something quite interesting from a site called StraightDope.com which is not a christian site so that is why I think this is so cool...the history they give comes from early Church history...Orthodox!
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgesundheit.html
1. I only say something if I'm the only person in the room, or if no one else says it and it's really awkward and silent.
2. "Bless you"
3. Deep theological reasons... no, I'm not sure why. Like I mentioned above, it's just come to be kind of awkward if you don't acknowledge that someone just randomly let out a huge sneeze.
4. When I get allergies, I sneeze a lot. I always feel weird when I sneeze several times in a row, and someone keeps feeling the need to say, "Bless you" after each one. It's like, after two sneezes, you are no longer obliged to say anything. I normally say, "excuse me" quietly each time I sneeze, to excuse others from feeling the need to say anything.
Don't usually say anything, but usually think "Guzundheit!" or however it's speelled.
Growing up, we never did all those things normal people do.
I like the bless you thing.
Interesting, indeed...If you are reading this and haven't followed Susan's link, you must! It's most helpful and gives the true history of the whole deal. Pretty cool.
I say "bless you", and Susan's link to the story was interesting! When I was growing up my mom and dad told me that when a person sneezes their heart stops for a quick minute, and giving someone a kind gesture of "bless you" is intended as a prayer that their heart will kick back into ticking again! I never thought of the tale very seriously, and just liked the idea of having an opportunity to be kind to someone!
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