OT - "Bless you" after sneeze
Hi all...
I hope you all can help settle a slight disagreement b/t DH and me.
Had a little chat about work today during our power outage thanks to leading bands of TS Ernesto. (It kept me off line and off TE Forums, bummer)
My boss was in a rather bizarre, chatty mood today...I don't think he had enough meetings to keep him busy. But at one point, I sneezed, and he came over and said "Bless you." Then said, "Do you know why folks say "bless you" after a sneeze? Because your soul leaves your body and they say that so it will come back. Well...that's the story, anyway."
I had always heard that your heart stops when you sneeze and folks say "Bless you" so that the soul DOESN"T leave the body during that time.
DH said, no way....it's a leftover from the days of the Black Death, the Plague. When folks sneezed, it was usually the start of Plague, and folks said "Bless you" so you wouldn't get it.
So, what IS the story??? Why do folks say "bless you" after a sneeze?
Thanks! And happy riding....
Regina
From a couple of message boards
Excerpts from: http://www.gatago.com/alt/atheism/22540864.html
The main problem with "Bless you" is that if you sneeze again, you feel
really guilty. They either have to re-bless you or aknowledge that the
original blessing didn't work. The best you can tell them is to not
worry about it, it wasn't an attack from Satan, it was just a sneeze.
I use gesundheit, which is German for health. Either that or "Get away
from me, you filthy, lurgy infected swine. Who do you thik you are,
Typhoid friggin' Mary?" It always goes down well at parties. ;-)
"Bless" means to bleed. "God bless you" therefore
translates to "god bleed on you." The phrase isn't offensive,
it's bizarre.
I always say "you are so good looking!"
Besides, who the hell is arrogant enough to think they have the power to bless me?
Another message board: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2232311AAUgFnD
I like to say damn you.. but people frown upon that.
Actually, eons ago, it was believed that when a person sneezed, that they could actually pass their spirit through their nose. So it became a way to bless the soul of the person who sneezed. ancient greece or egyptian roots
Gesundheit meant "health", but not for the one who sneezed, rather the one sneezed on. Try that one. People will still think you're trying to be polite.
What? Sneezing Protocol???
http://www.chefelf.com/forums/index....ter&f=8&t=5559
I'm sick of sneezing. Don't get me wrong, I love to let out a nice sneeze here and there if necessary, I just can't stand the pressure placed upon us all by the whole act. Let's quickly get this over with by going through some of the pressures that have been building up in me all summer.
The Aborted Sneeze
The other day I was at the barber shop (the one at the bus station, I love the stylist there) when, all of a sudden, I felt a sneeze coming on. I quickly pulled away from the barber's sharp scissors for a second, startling the hell out of him, before the sneeze was aborted. Then, given the fact that we speak two different languages (he speaks some sort of primitive bus station dialect that I can't quite pick out) I had to raise my finger to my nose like some sort of cartoon character.
The Sneeze Jokesters
Then there are those jerks you meet (usually they are only acquaintances at best, more often just strangers) who will 'bless' you after one sneeze, then again after a second and then after the third say, "Okay, no more for you!" The 'joke' is not always the same but the 'laughs' are. Usually since this person is a stranger you feel obliged to at least give them a courtesy chuckle.
The Sneeze Thespians
The worst is the people who milk their sneezes for all they're worth with a grand, "AHHH... AHHHH... AHHHHHHH... CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" These people, again usually strangers in public, are the worst kind of people. If you are at home among family and friends then do what you must. The people in public (most usually, in my case, on the subway) who feel the need to make a giant presentation about a simple sneeze are just annoying. They flail their body around and take giant breaths of air beforehand. They usually conclude the whole production with an exaggerated sigh of relief, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Get over yourself. No one cares about your sneezes. Or you.
The Protocol Dilemma
Then there is the whole personal choice you have to make when some sneezes. Do you say: "God bless you?" I feel goofy doing that given the fact that I'm not religious and I also don't subscribe to the belief that the soul leaves the body when you sneeze. There's, "Bless you," which is what I normally opt to say even though the 'God' is more or less implied. Then there's 'Gesundheit' which I will also use about forty percent of the time but I always feel odd saying it since I'm not German. Since 'Gesundheit' is merely a wish for good health it usually feels the most appropriate. A friend of mine told me a story about how she offered a 'Gesundheit' to a co-worker who had just sneezed in the cubicle or desk beside her. The co-worker actually had the audacity to say, "You know, I'd prefer to be blessed."
The worst thing a human being can do in the event of a sneeze taking place is to say nothing at all. This is why the dilemma previously mentioned is of little consequence in the long run. Not acknowledging a sneeze, to me, is impossible. I can't even fathom how some people can do it. The same way I can't understand how a human being can just toss garbage on the ground when they're done with it, I can't even begin to understand how you can hear someone sneeze and say nothing. It fascinates me. Even knowing that the whole situation is just ludicrous, it's mind-boggling to me to comprehend how someone can just ignore the whole thing.
Even if that is what makes the most sense.
