When People Sneeze...
 

do you say...

"Heres a tissue you got snot all over your face"

It depends who it is. I say different things for different people. There's no specific significance to it for me, but I always say bless you when my kids sneeze. Sometimes I add 'and may all your children have webbed feet' to the end.

cockblessyou

I may say "filthy bastard", or if in a car, just wipe the windscreen in front of them.

ahhhshit

FA-Q II

I bless each microbe expelled from the person's nostrils.

Separately?

Yes, I'm extremely thorough.

I ask: "Could you repeat your question?"

It's surprising how many people respond with: "No, I was just sneezing." (as though they were used to being asked to repeat what they've just said).

"There she blows!"

I am not fit for polite society. :(

I'm afraid I say "Bleshu" - though I don't always mean it.

I'll say "gesundheit", but it's not all that often I'll acknowledge someone's sneeze. Violent expulsions of air from any other orifice, however, may merit a dirty look as I hastily retreat from the area.:whofart:

If it's someone I know, I usually say "bless you." If it's a stranger out in public, I don't acknowledge it, but I try to put some distance between them and me. Once in a while, I say "gesundheit" followed by "schönheit" if they sneeze a second time.

Usually "bless you". It's a knee-jerk reaction. Although my daughter thinks it's so funny to hear me say "Blessyou!" that she'll fake sneeze just to get me to say it :)

"You're so good looking'"

Seinfeld

Bless you, or gesundheit....it varies. If it's a big sneeze I might say Bloody hell.

The reason people say gesundheit [good health] or bless you is because when a person sneezes their heart stops for that instant.

I forgot, I say gesundheit probably because until I was around five my vocabulary was mostly German.

Bleshoo

no, it doesn't.



as i understood it, the "gesundheit" simply relates to the fact that a sneeze usually indicates sickness, and the "bless you" is because people used to believe that you lose consciousness when you sneeze, which gives the devil an opportunity to sneak in and possess your soul.

Of course both of those could be bullshit too. :D

Drift! We did that to people who had their arms full." Hey got a light." Have a cigarette in hand even if a no smoking area.

I usually say "godzilla."

If I sneeze and someone says godblessyou, I say "Mothra."

Mothra. :lol: That struck me just right.

Mostly Gesundheit, but occasionally "blessings," less frequently, "use a tissue, you pig."

The last is mostly reserved for male cow orkers.

I have the misfortune of engaging in long series of sneezes. Not Guinness-level numbers, but usually at least 8-12 at a go.

I have to gasp out to people who start blessing me "hold onto it, I won't be done for a while, and you'll get tired of doing that. Save 'em up for the end."

(I dunno how to do the youtube thingy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21irX3zXCo

"Nothing happens when you die."

goes in tight

My ex had a real problem with "god bless you" as a militant atheist.

When people chain sneeze I say: "So, you think you're one of the seven dwarfs :eyebrow:."

'Militant Atheist' was my user title here for ages! Pretty much til Jim started dishing out names.

Stuff like that doesn't bother me much. My mum, who believes there is no God, no spirit world and the end is the end still says, when startled by something, stuff like: "Oh my Godfathers and mothers!" There are others involving saints and angels.

I say My God! I say Bless you. Such expressions are both instinctive and handy. That I don't believe in God doesn't stop the word carrying connotations useful for the expression. The fact that they are holy adds weight and emphasis regardless of belief because of their cultural place in our imaginary.

Mostly I say Bless you.
If it's my Dad or my brother I just look at them. Because that chances are I'm going to go off any second.

We all have photic sneeze reflex (mentioned before) so if we're going from shade to light, we'll all start within seconds of eachother.

The most I will do is count. Because:
Once a kiss; Twice a wish; Three times a letter; Four something better!

Except we all sneeze in fives. So we decided it was going around again. But the only kisses you get as children are from your parents anyway, so it seems like a booby prize. How I wished for three of eight sneezes! Having a mistrust of wishes from a child... Except those wish-based..?

I say bless you

btw there's an ad running on some of our ATMs here by the NHS which shows a guy make a huge sneeze in full slo-mo technicolor. It really offends me. Jesus, all I want to do is get some money out, not be blasted in the face by some guy's phlegm.

Your ATM'S show ads? Oh god, thats gonna spread quick. I was in a restaurants bathroom that had adds on the inside of the stalls. Talk about a captured audience.

I heard something to the sort also. I usually say "bless you" to a sneeze to be polite. :)

Interesting topic.

Most of the time when someone "blesses" me after sneezing I completely ignore their blessing or just nod to them.

The entire notion seems pretty silly and I politely try not to encourage it.

There are some interesting alternatives listed previously that may fall into my person use, "bloody hell" may be my new response to being blessed.

That ol' "cockblessyou" is a good one too. :)

Gesundheit

bless you sounds better in german

I find that in practice, I only say "bless you" if the person does not say "excuse me" first.

Lol. My husband likes to say shit as he sneezes. Im gonna start saying this when he does.

If I'm in the office and its been quiet for a bit and someone sneezes, I yell out: Knock it off!

like - ahhhshiiiiittt! instead of ahhhchooo?

Yup. He tries not to do it in polite company, but since he does it so much at home, he sometimes forgets where he is. If I say cockblessyou in public when he does it, I think it will get the point across to him.

I'd love to see the look on his face when that happens :eek:

Actually, you're just wishing folks good health in German.

Segnen Sie Sie would be bless you, I think.

Either way, you're really saying "I hope that you don't die of plague, and especially hope that you don't give it to me."

Just say, "stifle it".

My dad frequently made his sneezes sound like, "horseshit".

I usually say BLESS YOU :)

I say bless you and then I blather on about how the liberal media doesn't want us to say bless you anymore and they took bible out of school because Obama was a Muslim.

It's like the zombie-thread apocalypse around here :P

I didn't know this one at the time I started the thread, but my pottery teacher says that all the time now. Big Seinfeld fan, apparently. so I mooched through to see if anyone had mentioned it when I saw the zombies were in town. Might've guessed..... :lol: