# How common is "gesundheit"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690 "2009-03-25T01:37:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/41 "2009-03-25T23:59:31Z")
My Dad and others of my parents’ generation - born during the war and in the ten years or so after it - used the word a lot, but I don’t hear it from younger people. As I kid I thought it was cazundhite. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/42 "2009-03-26T00:42:13Z")
I personally generally use ‘Bless You’ but it wouldn’t seem strange to use gesundheit. I used to work with a colleague who’s family was from Vietnam. Whenever he or someone nearby sneezed, his rote response was “Getting all the devils out”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/43 "2009-03-26T01:04:48Z")
Whenever I hear “Goesintight” here in Northern California, I respond “comes out loose”. Either quizzical or shocked looks ensue. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/44 "2009-03-26T02:15:07Z")
eastern pa is heavily pa dutch so it is very common. and very automatic. uncle bill, i also suprized a sneezing german speaker. i was ringing up a purchase for a customer when her companion sneezed, i gesundheit-ed. she was very surprized and asked “deutch”? i replied “nein” and then explained to my customer that any german i knew was very spotty and mostly words learned from instruction manuals. there are many jokes set around gesundheit… the main one being when one says something incomprehensible and the other person responds gesundheit. “you’re so good looking” really didn’t catch on as an alternative for sneezing. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/45 "2009-03-26T02:49:37Z")
Gesundheit is pretty common up here, too. (It’s always weird to be reading about the German government and hear about the Ministerium für Gesundheit.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/46 "2009-03-26T04:45:25Z")
> [@Bluffcityguy](#): > > I suspect that this has something to do with the fact that a lot of German immigrants settled in Texas (see, e.g., [Texas Germans - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Texan) ). I doubt that was it in my case. Texas is a big state, and the German settlements were pretty much all in the southern part, where the farmland was good and the scenery pretty. The Hill Country, as your links says. They still have German festivals there. I’m thinking [New Braunfels](http://www.newbraunfels.com/) and that area. I grew up far, far away in a huge desolate region with no mass settlements. It took 20th-century technology to build up that area at all really. ---
**Author:** ![Bluffcityguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bluffcityguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluffcityguy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/47 "2009-03-26T09:32:39Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > there are many jokes set around gesundheit… the main one being when one says something incomprehensible and the other person responds gesundheit. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gesundheit](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gesundheit) Note that the very first example listed (from _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_) uses “Bless you” as the punch line, so the joke isn’t limited to “gesundheit”. Cheers, bcg ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/48 "2009-03-26T09:52:24Z")
I always thought “Gesundheit,” while normal in German, was used in the US as a kind of atheist or agnostic statement. There’s not God involved if you’re just saying “health.” ---
**Author:** ![Bluffcityguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bluffcityguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluffcityguy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/49 "2009-03-26T10:06:02Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > I always thought “Gesundheit,” while normal in German, was used in the US as a kind of atheist or agnostic statement. There’s not God involved if you’re just saying “health.” The members of my family, most of whom are devout Roman Catholics (I’m the black sheep of the family), would probably be insulted by that statement. As I mentioned upthread, I picked up the habit from my mom’s side of the family, who were not long removed from the boat that brought them to the US from Germany. Granted, I’ve always used it since losing the faith, but I also used it exclusively _before_ I turned apostate, so you can’t really judge anything from my behavior. I can’t say I’ve really noticed any correlation between one’s lack of religious belief and one’s propensity to say “gesundheit” vice “bless you” when someone sneezes, but I don’t have too many atheist friends who are so “in yer face” about their disbelief that I’d feel compelled to challenge their saying “bless you” in response to a sneeze just to give them crap about it. Cheers, bcg ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/50 "2009-03-26T10:14:55Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I believe keit would be “ness” (similar to kronkite = sickness). Heit is more like “ly”. Gesundheit means “healthily”, or “with health”. This is nonsense; -heit and -keit mean exactly the same, the only reason German uses one instead of the other is phonologic: -keit is used when the adjective preceding it ends in -g or -ch for instance (_Geschwindigkeit_ - speed). So _Gesundheit_ is a combination of _gesund_, healthy, and _-heit_, -ness. Similarly, _Krankheit_ is a combination of _krank_, ill, and _-heit_, ness, and it means illness. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/51 "2009-03-26T10:22:11Z")
_Actually_, it has to do with whether the adjective ends in a suffix such as -ig, -ich, -bar, -sam or -el (_Übelkeit, Einsamkeit, Verhältnismässigkeit_) or not. Forget what I said about phonological reasons, that’s all _Dummheit_. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/52 "2009-03-26T11:07:01Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s the adjective “gesund” onto which you add a suffix to get the noun “gesundheit”. – **Strinka** [more than you ever wanted to know mode] “heit” and “keit” are both a suffix to build an abstract substantive from (almost forgotten) nouns, participles and adjectives. The built substantives all have a feminine gender – which gives non-native speakers at least some help in their plight to learn when we use the masculine (der), feminine (die) or neuter (das) article. “heit” is the older suffix and was once a noun with masculine gender: goth. _haidus_ meant something like manner, mode, method. In Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch = mhd.) it changed its gender to feminine and the meaning shifted towards “type” or “kind”. Grimm wrote that a misunderstanding in the pronunciation of nominalized adjectives ending in “ig” led finally to the suffix “keit”: e.g., “Ewig_keit_” (eternity) was in mhd. “êwicheit”, meaning êwik-heit (in mhd. the final sound of a “g” was a “c” sounding like a “k”). So, the “ch” in “êwicheit” was pronounced like a “k” which led to the idea that there was a “keit” ending. [/more than you ever wanted to know mode] > [@](#): > > “Sprechen ze Deutch?” – **UncleBill** I hope you won’t mind: “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?”, is probably what she actually said, unless she was channeling John Cleese. Oh, and “Schweinhunt” is “American tv”-German; you could say “Schweinehund” but no one would .. or, if someone did it would be proof of a time machine transferring Germans from the Bismarck-era into our time. Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/53 "2009-03-26T13:33:14Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > …“you’re so good looking” really didn’t catch on as an alternative for sneezing. I was hoping someone else would remember the _Seinfeld_ reference. 😃 I usually say “Bless you,” but “Gesundheit” is not totally unknown around here. My mother, raised in Depression-era New Jersey, would always say “God bless you” at the first sneeze, and add “And may he keep you!” if you sneezed a second time. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/54 "2009-03-26T13:36:16Z")
I say Gesundheit because I think it’s funny and my German uncle taught it to me when I was little. Nobody else says it but they understand it. (Massachusetts) ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/55 "2009-03-26T13:39:51Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > This is nonsense; -heit and -keit mean exactly the same My apologies, then. :o ---
**Author:** ![Bluffcityguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bluffcityguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluffcityguy)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/56 "2009-03-26T13:58:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I was hoping someone else would remember the _Seinfeld_ reference. 😃 > > I usually say “Bless you,” but “Gesundheit” is not totally unknown around here. My mother, raised in Depression-era New Jersey, would always say “God bless you” at the first sneeze, and add “And may he keep you!” if you sneezed a second time. I’ll have to remember that, adding “… as far away from me as possible!” if s/he sneezes a third time. Cheers, bcg (because if anyone has a cold within a mile’s radius, I wind up catching it. Guaranteed!) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/57 "2009-03-26T17:11:27Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > “Gesundheit” is also Yiddish, and it’s the default in my family. I’ve mostly lived in places with significant Jewish populations, so most people know what it means. I have had to explain it to the occasional, say, Mexican or Polish co-worker, though. Was going to post the same thing. It seems like a much higher percentage of Jews use “gesundheit” than the population at large. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/58 "2009-03-26T17:12:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I usually say “Bless you,” but “Gesundheit” is not totally unknown around here. My mother, raised in Depression-era New Jersey, would always say “God bless you” at the first sneeze, and add “And may he keep you!” if you sneezed a second time. At the third sneeze, does she say “And may he lift up his face to shine upon you!”? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/59 "2009-03-26T18:06:27Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > At the third sneeze, does she say “And may he lift up his face to shine upon you!”? No, but that’s a good idea! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690/60 "2009-03-27T02:28:04Z")
> [@Bluffcityguy](#): > > [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gesundheit](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gesundheit) > > Note that the very first example listed (from _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_) uses “Bless you” as the punch line, so the joke isn’t limited to “gesundheit”. > > Cheers, > > bcg gesundheit is funnier punchline than bless you. a mumbles something, b responds in german, big laugh. a mumbles something, b responds in english, little laugh. saltier, i thought the irish version translated out to “bless me”. which i thought was amusing because most bless the sneezer not the sneezee, and the irish turned it around. my irish books are out of my reach right now, but i’ll have to give it another look when i can. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-gesundheit/490690.md?page=4)