# I sneeze down my shirt **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2001, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439 "2001-01-11T01:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/1 "2001-01-11T01:22:18Z")
My mother hates germs. She taught me not to sneeze in my hands, because that spreads germs, so she told me to sneeze down my shirt. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, so even though I don’t mind germs so much, I can’t help it. My friends think it’s funny, my co-workers think it’s creepy, and my roommate thinks it’s bizarre. Come on! Someone else has to do this! ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/2 "2001-01-11T01:28:40Z")
I, for one, would like to go on record that I have never, ever, EVER sneezed down your shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/3 "2001-01-11T01:28:44Z")
As in, you open your shirts neck opening a little wider, look down, and sneeze? What about, err, projectile sneezing? I can only assume where THAT will end up :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/4 "2001-01-11T01:30:15Z")
That must be why when I sneak peeks down your shirt your cleavage is so shiny! ---
**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:** [January 11, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/5 "2001-01-11T01:38:34Z")
no, i can’t say i ever sneezed down my shirt. i do the vampire sneeze. place your arm in frount of your face bend slightly at the elbow, sneeze into elbow crook. rather like the vampire cape move. by using the vampire sneeze your hands are germ free and you rarely get touched in the inside elbow area so no tactile germ transfer. also gets big laughs when people give you the " what ARE you doing" look, and you answer: “a vampire sneezing.” ---
**Author:** ![Totoro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Totoro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totoro)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/6 "2001-01-11T01:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rocking chair \* > \*\*no, i can’t say i ever sneezed down my shirt. i do the vampire sneeze. place your arm in frount of your face bend slightly at the elbow, sneeze into elbow crook. rather like the vampire cape move. by using the vampire sneeze your hands are germ free and you rarely get touched in the inside elbow area so no tactile germ transfer. also gets big laughs when people give you the " what ARE you doing" look, and you answer: “a vampire sneezing.” \*\* I always just referred to this as “examining how my elbow holds up agains wind resistance.” ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/7 "2001-01-11T01:53:59Z")
Guess you kept a lot of tissue paper down there in HS? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/8 "2001-01-11T01:57:06Z")
While no one ever instructed me to do this, I have done it on occasion, though not in public. For the most part I sneeze into my elbows unless taken totally by surprise, in which case the hands are the automatic first place. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/9 "2001-01-11T02:33:54Z")
I’m a big time down-the shirt-sneezer. Probably 90% of the time. \ Hey, Thithyearthgirl – lithten here… thugarbritches, whaddya thay me and you go check out the thnot and thalavia on each otherth cheth? \ ---
**Author:** ![Silly\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Silly\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silly_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/10 "2001-01-11T02:40:11Z")
I sneeze down my shirt too!! However, when I have a cold, I ALWAYS have tissue for those (as Coldfire put it) projectile sneezes. **Eww…** Sometimes my sneezes are so loud it scares the shit out of anyone around me. How feminine, hey? :o ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/11 "2001-01-11T03:37:24Z")
Pics! We want pics! [sub]Well, actually all I wanted was a shot of **This Years Girl** [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/12 "2001-01-11T03:40:07Z")
I kind of hold in my sneezes, since a lot of the time it’ll interrupt something. However, when I do sneeze, I do the hand move. I like the elbow one… I’ll try that sometime. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/13 "2001-01-11T04:05:48Z")
I hold in my sneezes too. Absolutely silent, no air expelled. This is in contrast to my dad, who I have heard sneeze from across a crowded shopping mall during Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Tzel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzel)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/14 "2001-01-11T08:26:04Z")
I suppress sneezes sometimes, like if I’m working at some food service place. However, it’s nowhere near as satisfying, and I can feel it putting pressure up in my inner ear or Eustachian tubes or something. It could be an UL, but I heard you can potentially injure some things up there holding in a sneeze. The elbow thing is a damn good idea, but with winter upon me, I’m wearing long sleeves most of the time. As for down the shirt, that’s just sick, people. ---
**Author:** ![Canby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Canby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canby)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/15 "2001-01-11T08:53:02Z")
Working around food will make you creative…no can’t turn head that way! Or that way either - damn! Armpits are handy for this. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/16 "2001-01-11T09:03:55Z")
“Take my hankerchief. Never, at any crisis in your life, have I known you to have a hankerchief” –Rhett Butler, Gone With The Wind ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/17 "2001-01-11T12:17:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tzel \* > **I suppress sneezes sometimes, like if I’m working at some food service place. However, it’s nowhere near as satisfying, and I can feel it putting pressure up in my inner ear or Eustachian tubes or something. It could be an UL, but I heard you can potentially injure some things up there holding in a sneeze.** No UL there. Suppressing a sneeze can put tremendous pressure on your ears, through said Eustachian tubes. I’ve heard that it’s possible to even rip the drums. This was told to me by my (OK, directly from Dutch here) Throat, Nose and Ear Doctor (yes, we really DO call them that :D), a man who treated me for chronic mid-ear infections from age 2 to 16. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/18 "2001-01-11T12:27:02Z")
As opposed to us in the States, Coldy? We call those docs Ear, Nose and Throat specialists. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/19 "2001-01-11T12:47:18Z")
Huh, whaddayaknow! I just figured it sounded weird in English. Hell, it sounds weird in Dutch! ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439/20 "2001-01-11T12:58:27Z")
Down the shirt it is. I’m a t-shirt guy, so this is not a huge issue for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-sneeze-down-my-shirt/49439.md?page=2)