Gesundheit! Do you feel blessed now?

It never seemed more than a courtesy to me. And not one I thought all that important. I mean, how much do you need a sneeze acknowledged? On the otherhand a friend of mine that knew I was an atheist came up with some alternative. Sadly I can’t remember what it was, but it amused me.

I just say bless you, and in Hebrew the equivalent of “To Health.”

It’s very hard to break a lifelong habit. I say “Bless you” to someone who sneezes.

I always feel beatified after a big bitchin’ sneeze, even when it’s a solo.

Even though I’m agnostic, sneezing makes me feel so blessed that one day I shall enjoy the fragrant irony of sneezing my way to sainthood!

Theists will be green with envy when they see me blow my nose in a Holy Hanky blessed by their deity. :p

I’m piping up anyway! imo the terms are not relevant today and I think we have been hearing those words for so long that we don’t give the meanings a second thought. As an atheist the term Bless You means nothing to me and when people at work yell it out when I sneeze, I just politely say thanks.

I like the terms that translate along the lines of health. Wishing someone good health when they sneeze is certainly relevant since they probably have a cold or an allergy.

Oh, and once I had a Hungarian roommate for a few weeks and now ‘Egészségedre’ comes more naturally to me than ‘Bless you’, because she sneezed so much XD

I say, WOAHA!

I work with an atheist and every time he sneezes I feel like I should say something, but I never know what. So I go over the top with the religiousness.

I say “Excuse you” or ”Excuse me” when I sneeze, depends who’s polluting the air with their mucus…. :-/
Being an Atheist :-/ Lol…...

I say “Gesundheit, Do you need a tissue?”

I use both ‘Bless you’ and ‘Gesundheit’ and have no idea why one is chosen over the other. On occasion, I’ve used Jerry Seinfeld’s solution depending who is doing the sneezing.

I don’t say anything when people sneeze. I don’t see the need for it. If I want to say “Be blessed” I will, but not just because they sneezed.

Strange we pardon ourselves when we fart yet we’re blessed when we sneeze. Maybe farting is viewed as a sin…..I dunno :¬)

I despise the german language, it’s crude.
Bless you is a nice ice breaker though.

I say either “Salut!” or “Bless You” or “Could you wipe that up please?”

and they mean nothing to me short of a common nicety

I think it’s more of an acknowledgment that the person is here, and that we can hear you and we care about you. It’s a ritual that can bind strangers together. It means we take notice of each other and are willing to do something about it.

Sometimes sneezing can become coughing, and then people might say, “Are you all right?” Sometimes saying gesundheit is a reflexive thing.

I used to hate it and think it was redundant. I think that was mostly because I was obligated to say, “Thank you” in response. It still annoys me somewhat to have to be responsive to strangers, but I also like it that they care enough to say it.

I don’t like saying it either, and I don’t. Some people have actually asked me to say it to them and I say it very sarcastically, or I’ll be a smartass and pretend to shake holy water on them or something.

How do you say, “I hope your brains didn’t go flying out” in German? Maybe I’ll use that from now on.

I’ve always said “gesundheit” and when people say it to me after I sneeze (or any variation thereof), I say “Danke [schön/sehr].” Most people in my area say “Salut” or “Bless you.” I don’t get upset if nobody says anything, but I will get annoyed if they shush me (I can’t stop myself from sneezing! Geez.) I’m more concerned with people covering their mouths when they sneeze than whether they’ll receive a word for their health (and I always cover mine as well.)

Nobody has ever demanded that I respond to their sneezing. If they were upset about my lack of reaction, they weren’t vocal about it.

@Zyx I think German is a beautiful language.

Did you know that a sneeze can be slightly orgasmic? I say bless you.

I say Bless You because it’s what people expect not because I believe it – in Russian the saying means ‘be healthy!’ – I like that better.

I say either Gesundheit or Bless you depending on the mood I’m in. It’s just a common courtesy thing that I was raised doing and have never seen a reason to stop doing.

i think in this culture it has religious meaning to a very minute group of people. Besides “bless you: can just mean “Hey I hope good things happen to you!”, which is always an appreciated comment.

I don’t say anything unless the person is REALLY close in proximity to me when they sneeze, in which case I “don’t get none on me”.
The term God Bless comes from the Christian/Catholic church. Back in the days they had a plague that was killing people. One of the symptoms of this plague was excessive sneezing. So a law was made that you must say “God bless you” to anyone that sneezed because they were about to die. Stupid but true. I always find is amusing to see how many people continue to do and say things and they have absolutely no reason why they are doing it or the history behind it.

I was taught “Gesundheit” as a child and, since it has no religious overtones, I still use it today. “Bless you” bothers me a little bit, but I accept that it is usually said as a courtesy, not as a religious statement. I do tend to watch out a little bit for signs of extreme Christianity in a new acquaintance if he or she says :bless you” to me.

@mrentropy – According to Google translate: Ich hoffe, Ihr Gehirn nicht ausfliegen. I haven’t taken German in many years, so I don’t know how close it really is.

I say “bless you” out of habit. I don’t believe that the person is in any danger, it’s just the phrase I heard growing up. I’m trying to break it at home because my husband doesn’t say it (which feels weird to me even after 11 years) and he isn’t a big fan of superstitious things.

If someone lets out a string of sneezes, do you say it after each sneeze? Or does once cover the whole shebang?

I wait to see if there are more incoming. Our mother typically sneezes 3½ times in a row.

I wait too. I know the people in my life who are multiple sneezers, so I know when to wait.

I say DAMN YOU! real loud when someone sneezes around me.

@tedibear There’s no way I’m gonna remember that :(

If my wife sneezed, it was also in threes. Sometimes she’d get stuck at two for a few moments. I would say something along the lines of “bless you” after each one. If she got stuck on the second, I’d loom in front of her like I was ready to pounce until that third one came. Drove her batty.

My mom had a cat who would give a little ‘meow’ whenever she (my mother) would sneeze.

I just say “Bless you.”

Oh! God bless you! but it’s just a silly habit

Not blessing a sneeze in my neck of the woods is a gawddang federal offense. Tsk tsk.Instead of “bless you”, I usually say “Allllriiiiight, we gettt iiiiit”.

@SundayKittens—I’m with ya sistah. And many of the work e-mails close with, “Have a Blessed day.”