# Atheists: When someone sneezes, do you say... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514 "2016-01-08T18:49:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/61 "2016-01-12T19:13:34Z")
If it’s a friend, I tell them to settle down. Otherwise “Gesundheit” or “Bless you.” I don’t care about the God thing; it’s just a figure of speech. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/62 "2016-01-12T19:29:01Z")
Nice catch! ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/63 "2016-01-12T21:05:52Z")
I say nothing. But some friends at work came up with something in case we are perceived as being rude by not blessing. We say, “I acknowledge the fact that you sneezed.” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/64 "2016-01-13T00:45:26Z")
This seems relevant… > **[Nondenominational Well Wishing - Penny Arcade](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/28/nondenominational-well-wishing)** > > Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/65 "2016-01-14T14:56:04Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I’m an Atheist and I say nothing. > > It’s a sneeze; nobody needs to say anything about it, and calling attention to it is, frankly, a tiny bit tasteless. My thoughts exactly! Why do we feel the need to say anything after someone sneezes? It is an old tradition that is no longer needed. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/66 "2016-01-14T23:11:23Z")
Hail sneezer. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/67 "2016-01-15T13:41:19Z")
I don’t say anything, and I’m a bit weird in that I don’t like it when anyone says anything to me when I sneeze. I guess I get a bit embarrassed when I sneeze, and I don’t like people calling attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/68 "2016-01-15T14:37:55Z")
> [@Cyros](#): > > I’m the athiest atheist and I say “Bless you.” Mostly because it is what is considered to be the polite response dictated by my society. Much like saying “Good morning” or “How are you” when you first meet someone during the day. To me they are all polite expectations that are semantically null. That’s pretty much me. I’m an atheist, but still culturally Christian to a certain degree. It’s what I grew up with, like celebrating Christmas. > [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > _"snort I guess your God didn’t protect you from the common cold, did it? Eh? Did it?\*"_\* > > And then I try to push the Richard Dawkins books I always carry with me on the unsuspecting victim. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/69 "2016-01-17T04:22:14Z")
I asked my mother what the traditional Japanese response is, and she said nobody says anything. A few years ago, a Chinese language teacher told me the Chinese have no traditional response, either. Way back in elementary school, I learned that “God Bless you!” was a Dark Ages response because people believed The Devil entered you through your nose and that tickly sensation was what made you sneeze. Obviously, that was a Christian concept. That teacher noted that “Gesundheit” was merely German for the same well wishes, literally breaking down to “God Send Health [to you].” Later, a Jr. High history teacher explained that people in the Renaissance era said “Bless You” because a sneeze was a potential indicator of poor health – susceptibility to the Black Death that was going around at the time. (This is the teacher who taught us the real meaning of the _Ring around the rosy_ rhyme, as well). Over the years, as I became more rooted in my anti-monotheism/atheism/non-theism I started substituting other responses\*. _Salud_ (Health [to you]) is familiar enough here in southern California, _Bon soi_ is the closest I could figure out for French, and my Russian teacher told me _kchort_ is an insult when taken literally but is received as the reverse – kind of like telling an actor to ‘break a leg’ before a performance. So my first three responses are typically, “Salud!..Bon soi!..Kchort!” and that tends to be all that’s needed. And recently my father-in-law told me he grew up with _Prosit_ in his household. His family is Danish but he noted that it’s a Swedish term that everyone used for some reason. I’ll add _prosit_ to my recitals, if necessary. But usually when my father-in-law is visiting, we respond to each other’s sneezes by rating them like gymnastics or figure skating performances. He and I are particularly loud sneezers, so we make a joke out of it by turning it into a competition. 😃 –G! \*My friends learned to respond to my sneezed with “Blast you!..Damn you!..Shut up already!” ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/70 "2016-01-17T04:56:18Z")
I don’t say anything - never saw the point (and while an atheist, don’t really think of that as a particularly “atheist” point of view - I have zero problem with saying “Merry Christmas” or whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/71 "2016-01-17T05:40:59Z")
Other. I say nothing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/72 "2016-01-17T07:39:53Z")
I don’t say anything, unless it’s unusually loud, in which case I say “Woah there!” or something equally exclamatory. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/73 "2016-01-17T20:20:08Z")
Spaniard here. I will say “Jesús”, which is the standard response to sneezing in Spain, whether you are a good catholic, a good atheist, or a faithful follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/74 "2016-01-17T23:42:41Z")
I don’t react at all. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514/75 "2016-01-18T03:44:13Z")
Nothing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-when-someone-sneezes-do-you-say/742514.md?page=3)