I noticed that little babies (and sometimes dogs, but i’ve not been around enough dogs to really say) don’t do the “Ahhh-chooo”, they just “choo”. That is, they don’t do the intake of breath most people do before sneezing. Which led me to wonder if this is a learned response. I noticed that drawing a sharp breath before sneezing seems to clear the mucus out better.
I get snuck up on. My sneezes are like, “Tyu!” “Tyu!” Sometimes with several in a row.
Don’t know about the first syllable, but apparently the second syllable is cultural.
My wife (and other Brazilians) sneeze like “Ahhhhh CHING!”
And I recall a Chinese co-worker who used to sneeze with a strange hard-to-describe open sound at the end.
Both of them claim all others from their respective nations sneeze like they do.
My sneezes are much less able to be spelled out . . . sort of like the way an animal sneezes. My mother, on the other hand, would have a sort of generic sneeze, followed by actually ***saying ***the word “choo.”
Well a sneeze involves forcefully expelling air from your lungs, so a lot of people find it more comfortable to breathe in first (try breathing out quickly without breathing in first - you can do it, but it isn’t very comfortable). Also as you say, taking a deeper breath beforehand lets you expel the air more forcefully or for longer, which helps with clearing mucus etc. Whenever we make a deep intake of breath with our mouths open it makes a sound kind of like ‘aah…’ anyway, so I think when we’re sneezing we might exaggerate that sound, but it’s naturally present to some extent.
This is just my opinion and my experience, but when I was in high school I decided that people who vocalized when sneezing sounded stupid. So I taught myself to stop doing it. Based on the fact that I was able to make myself stop with practice, I think it’s learned.
Since then I’ve sneezed without the requisite AAhh-Choo!! It’s just a sneeze with no dramatic “Hey, I’m sneezing now!” accentuation. But sometimes I’ll do it (vocalize) when I’m home alone.
I’ve long noticed this. People from different countries do indeed seem to vocalize their sneezes differently.
Heck, even in the US it can vary. My father never went “Ah-Choo”. It was a long, drawn out three-syllable word that can’t quite be properly captured using letters.
It was something like “Ahhhhh-RISH-yaaaaaaaaaaaaH!”
Does anyone else get phantom sneezes? Every now and then I’ll have a sneezing fit, like six or seven sneezes quickly in a row. (No, not talking about colds, and I have no allergies. I’m thinking it’s mainly due to dust.)
Anyway, I’ll be sneezing along, and then I’ll do the big inhale for the next sneeze, and inhale some more, and inhale, inhale, inhale until I fear I might explode…and abruptly the urge to sneeze simply vanishes and I can just exhale normally.
Is this yet another sign I’m an alien?
Glork: Looks like she’s starting to catch on. Modify the virtual phenotype simulator to create more human-like sneezes. If she ever figures out that she’s actually giving birth when this happens, she’ll likely display an anomalous response that humans call “freaking out.”
- Glandorga 42387B, Under-overlord for Crypto-Reproduction, Earth Outpost 61
You can breathe in before sneezing without making a big vocalized “ahhhh”. The sound of a sneeze isn’t really achoo, that’s just the closest approximation to it.
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
Is that what those things are? My cats are always finding tiny things and playing them to death…
I wasn’t really concerned with the sound made while sneezing, more with the sharp intake of breath before a sneeze and whether that is learned or instinctive. It is interesting that different cultures make slightly different sounds when they sneeze though. When my niece (age 3) sneezes, it comes out ptchhhu!