OK, good to know that (in this case only) the whole world hasn’t gone crazy, just some of us have had bogus manners shoved done our sneeze holes.
I like the thought posted above that an “unblessed” sneeze hangs in the air like a sentence without a period. Good analogy. My wife hates it that I don’t respond, but for me, logic trumps Catholic tradition anytime. =)
Some people get really embarrassed when they sneeze in public, it’s great to embarrass them further by saying “Bless you!”.
FWIW in Irish it’s “Dia Linn” (Dee-yah Lynn) which is “God be with us” or something similar.
I’ve lived in North Carolina, California, Indiana, and Texas, and in my experience a post-sneeze benediction, even to a stranger, is considered good manners. Like uttering an apology upon colliding with someone. I say “bless you” when I hear a sneeze, and rarely give it a second thought.
Except if it has a religion tinge to it, it is only in English and other languages, and certainly not European, as was stated by speakers of other languages (German, Spanish and French). And to that, in Portuguese (at least in Brazil), they say “saúde” (same as salud in Spanish).
Says someone who grew up in a sort of Catholic tradition, and says “salud” and doesn’t understand the “bless you”
<fart> <OH SHIT WHO CUT THE CHEESE? OPEN THE WINDOW, SOMEONE!>
Add Polish to “not-religion” list. They say “na zdrowie” (“for health”).
My stepson is an atheist, and when his two-year-old daughter sneezes, he says “Farfegnugen!”
I think it’s supposed to be a joke.
The reason I heard about the Christian blessing was that somebody got the idea in their head that demons could enter your nose after a vicious sneeze, or something to that effect. If somebody more in-the-know could come along and clarify, that would be super.