Comments on: “Science Informs”

By: h sofia

h sofia — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:12:50 +0000

In some Spanish speaking countries people say “Salud!” on the first sneeze; “Amor!” on the second sneeze, and “Dinero!” on the third sneeze.

Among Muslims it is a common practice that when someone sneezes, they should say “praise be to god” and then the people around them should respond, “may god have mercy on you.” But there is a story from the time of Muhammad that after a person sneezes for the third time, the people around them are exempt from the response. Instead they just announce, “You’re sick” and leave it at that!

By: MIchael

MIchael — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:35:43 +0000

I always say “Bless You” when my nephew burps. He says… “I didn’t sneeze!” and laughs hysterically. I think it is nice when someone says bless you after a sneeze… but the thing I can NOT stand is when the woman who pretends to check my receipt as I leave COSCTO WHOLESALE says “God Bless You!” - Give me my SUPER DUPER sized Special K cereal and let me get out of here!

By: martinet

martinet — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:20:10 +0000

tom–I have heard your explanation for “bless you” but I have also heard that it originated during the plague years in Europe. Basically at that point if you sneezed that meant you weren’t long for this world, so anyone around you would mutter “God bless you” and flee for their lives.

I think I do know some people who have farted out their souls, though.

By: claire

claire — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:26:35 +0000

i usually say gesundheit (it means roughly “good health) to sneezes but often say bless you to especially awesomely loud belches

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:17:00 +0000

I have a friend who says “May the demons leave your body.”

If I have a particularly annoying cold I’ll respond with “I hope they hurry!”

By: Mars Girl

Mars Girl — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:52:27 +0000

Ha ha! I usually say, “Bless you, my child” (to friends who know me) too! Just cuz I think it’s funny to sound like I’m some holy person… especially since I grew up Catholic and women cant be priests. Tee-hee!

By: Joyce

Joyce — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:35:35 +0000

My grandmother, who was born and raised in Roxbury in the 1920s, said that in her family a person would be blessed with “Gesundheit” for two consecutive sneezes, but on the third would be dismissed in Yiddish: “Go to hell, you have a cold!”

By: Chalicechick

Chalicechick — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:19:56 +0000

“Gesundheit,” means “health,” I believe, which seems universally appropriate, though I knew a guy in college who would say “Bless you, my child,” in a regal, preistly manner.

My parents were also not crazy about “God bless you” for taking-the-name-of-the-Lord-in-vain reasons. My mom’s standard for that was to assume whenever we said God’s name we were getting his attention. (Like Valdemort, come to think of it.)

Imagining a old white man in the sky saying “You don’t REALLY have to point it out to me everytime someone sneezes!” amused me as a little kid.

By: tom

tom — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:51:32 +0000

I believe, and people can correct me on this, but the tradition of “blessing” people when whey sneeze is based on folklore, which held that somehow part of your “soul” was expelled with a violent sneeze (guess farts didn’t provide easy exit for the soul!), therefore, invoking divine aid was to help “bring it back.”

By: h sofia

h sofia — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 22:09:32 +0000

martinet - lol re “bless you” at farts.
That is kind of funny … never thought of it that way!