do you say anything when people sneeze?

[producer snafu]

over the past few years i have become agnostic, in my family we say bless you when you sneeze, being that my father is of mexican descent, he would say "Salud"

 

with my mother, i ignore her first sneeze, and wait for the other two, cuz that bitch is an habitual triple sneezer

i got uncomfortable with the saying bless you because from what i recall, the urban legend was that when you sneeze, your heart stops and people will say "God Bless you" as a gesture of kindness in hopes that your heart won't stop forever.

 

i recently looked into it, and your heart in fact does not stop at all.

 

saying bless you dates back in the day to 77AD

 

One explanation holds that the custom originally began as an actual blessing. Gregory I became Pope in AD 590 as an outbreak of the bubonic plague was reaching Rome. In hopes of fighting off the disease, he ordered unending prayer and parades of chanters through the streets. At the time, sneezing was thought to be an early symptom of the plague. The blessing ("God bless you!") became a common effort to halt the disease.

 

so the optional way of going about saying bless you would be to say the German word Gesundheit (meaning "health")

 

so my question is, do you say anything when someone sneezes, do you approach strangers when they sneeze?

 

or is you a rude mutha fucka that just don't give a fuck?

 

[Hautlle]

I don't say anything and I think some people get offended. Don't really care though.

 

To add to this thread, I always feel weird when people say they're "going to pray for me" and stuff too. I'm just like, "OK I guess"

[Guest]

someone told me that when you sneeze you're sneezing out an evil spirit and the bless you is like sealing them out. if you then say thanks when someone 'blesses' you, you're letting the spirit back in

[MaartenVC]

Only when it's a bad sneeze and/or the person is close to you.

"gezondheid" ~ gesundheit

[Guest M360]

I ask them why they're not pretend coughing as i smoke my e-cigarette

 

Someone once told me a sneeze is 1/16th of an orgasm. I haven't tried it yet

[YO303]

I only do it when the person has said it to me, if i know the person is cool with not saying it then i wont say it

[cruising for burgers]

"holly virus"

[Braintree]

I say gesundheit.

 

Fuck your god.

[Joyrex]

"Cover your fucking mouth and wipe your goddamned nose"

[calx]

Kin' hell

[Joyrex]

Yeah, that too.

[may be rude]

im kind of agnostic yet i feel put off by how sneeze blessing makes light of invoking the blessing of god. if you're going to have god bless something, you should be solemn about it. people say it like "hey whats up," it's a social thing. it shows disregard for whether god exists or not, in essence all things that matter. through the off-hand and (in modern times) illogical usage the term is twisted into an epigram of nihilism.

 

since i find the practice distasteful and i would be mocked for trying to solemnly invoke a blessing for people when they sneeze, i stopped saying anything. after a while i realized i felt like people resent it when you don't say anything, maybe they tell themselves that i look down on their beliefs, but really it's because they crave the social gesture.

 

so now i say salud. i started doing it to satiate peoples' insane social expectations, thinking it was an alternative to bless you, like a wishing for good health, but i looked it up and it's spanish for "bless you." it still feels less dirty.

[producer snafu]

 

so now i say salud. i started doing it to satiate peoples' insane social expectations, thinking it was an alternative to bless you, like a wishing for good health, but i looked it up and it's spanish for "bless you." it still feels less dirty.

 

i feel you, it feels better to say it that way, even though it means the same thing.

[psn]

Prosit.

[KovalainenFanBoy]

"Nasty"

[Friendly Foil]

Shut up

[Guest M360]

Sneezing is contagious. Fuck that, i dont need that shit in my lyfe

[Rubin Farr]

Say it don't spray it

[zkreso]

Nice sneeze bro

[Candiru]

I spray them and all of their surroundings with some kind of disinfectant. Then I call 911. I'm trying to be a better person.

[goDel]

I say the gesundheit thing and do it often. And if people look terrible I follow up with a " everything ok?". Hell, I even do the gesundheit thing when people cough. To which people often respond that they weren't sneezing. To which I respond that they sounded like crap and I wanted to wish them gesundheit nevertheless. I suspect those responders to be the robot types. People who blindly follow the rules. However, if people don't follow up with a " thank you" after my wishing them health and all that, I conclude they're selfish dicks living in their own world.

 

In the end it's a cheap way to connect with people, I guess. Even with complete strangers. It could even break the ice. And that's basically the fun of it.

[Audioblysk]

Besides 'go fuck yourself'

 

No.

[QBLA]

I maddog peeps when they sneeze!

[ambermonk]

Sometimes. I find the expressions "bless you" or "gesundheit" works either way, even tho I claim no religious affiliation.

During my time in Japan, no one ever responded verbally to a sneeze, so depends on the culture too.

[usagi]

Kin' hell