atchoo!!!

[toddzilla]

:evilgrin:

[fshrink]

1. Salute!

That's SRV. I play some of his riffs.

[BurtWorm]

2. You're sooo good looking!

;)

[BeeBee]

3. Gesundheit! n/t

[toddzilla]

4. hehe

I've taken to saying "i hope you don't get sick!"

[Cobalt Violet]

5. Yep , It pisses some off when you don't say what is expected.

Or thank them for saying it to you.

[fshrink]

7. I piss some twice with "salute"

Those who have, in addition, a racist neurosis.

[HawkerHurricane]

6. Cover your mouth, slob.

yuck, you got your snot all over me.

[YankeyMCC]

8. "Good catch"

If they do cover their nose and mouth.

[lapislzi]

9. "You OK?"

Same as I would for a cough.

Although why we don't have a salutation for belches and farts I don't know. They're at least as worthy of comment.

[Marnieworld]

10. Hey you sneezed!

That's my response to people. I mean really? Isn't that all a "God Bless You" says? I acknowledge that you sneezed. As someone with allergies and no belief in god boy howdy is this is a peeve of mine. Especially when you sneeze a lot and these morons keep saying "God Bless You" but then you pass your alloted sneeze number. And then you get annoyed "God bless yous" or "Enough Already" as if they are obligated to utter this nonsense and now my sneezing is inconveniencing them. Makes me want to gun down a crowd. ;-)

[progressoid]

11. uggh, my mother-in-law always says 'god bless'

I almost never heard it before I got married. Now I hear when ever she's around; even my youngest daughter was picking up on it.

Finally, I asked my kid why she said it for sneezing but not for coughing, burping, flatulence (had to explain that word to her), or when Coke shoots out of my nose if I'm drinking and laughing. One would think god would want to bless all expulsions.

So that has come to an end for now, thank god...er...umm...you know what I mean.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. Na Zdrowieje!!! That's what we say in my family

My mother's Polish and that means "to your health!" :evilgrin:

[lapislzi]

13. Oh, is THAT how you spell it??

Often heard it spoken, never seen it in print. Thanks for clearing that up :D

I'll say "salud" once in awhile, but I don't understand why sneezing deserves special treatment.

[Rhiannon12866]

14. That's how it's spelled in Polish, according to my mother, LOL!

I asked and it took her a moment. Polish is her first language, but she's obviously rusty. It's pronounced more like naz-druve-yah. This also makes a very nice toast, which I've used! Feel free to use it, as well, for sneezing or a toast!:D

Sneezing deserves special treatment because people are so freaked out about illness. My other, WASP grandmother, who I was especially close to, gave me a book, commissioned by her aunt, which traces her family from the time that they arrived in this country, in the 1600s, of little interest to anyone but family, but I've poured over it for years, reading names and what happened to people. My grandmother's grandmother gave birth to 14 children, over 20 years. But only 6 made it to adulthood, most died in their first two years, from illness, and one committed suicide in his 20s. No wonder people became paranoid and superstitious about a sneeze!
:scared:

[Rhiannon12866]

15. They said that I was a thread-killer, on DU!

And I just did it again, LOL! But that's what to say when somebody sneezes. Works for me.:shrug:

[onager]

16. It sure baffled some Muslims...

A few months ago, I was holding training classes for some military officers from a Muslim country. (A friendly one, at least this week.)

One day, one of them asked: "What is that thing you say here in America, when people sneeze?"

I explained, and they understood it as "a common expression." Except for the sneezing, it's similar to the expression they tack on to many conversations when you're discussing something that needs to be done: "Inshallah"--"God willing."

That means, "This may or may not get done. But don't hold your breath."

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Thank you. That's totally fascinating.

They must have such a different perception of the world as most Americans. Most Americans say "God bless you," when someone sneezes, which was the point of this post. And Muslims are also deeply religious, but I understand the sentiment. My parents visited Egypt and this was the perception that my mother came away with, that they were just waiting for Allah to take care of so much, so they didn't feel that they had to do it. Very strange, I think. The Polish expression is more a wish for good health, if someone sneezes, than a religious expression, asking for God's blessing, which is the reason I posted it. I appreciate what you said, given what my parents observed. Thanks.:-)