# The sound of sneezing in English and other languages **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064 "2024-10-22T15:58:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/21 "2024-10-23T03:23:58Z")
You know, it really wouldn’t surprise me if the canine breed name **Shih tzu** had something to do with sneezing. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/22 "2024-10-23T06:51:04Z")
I was brought up with “atishoo”, as in the nursery rhyme > **[Ring a Ring o' Roses](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses)** > > "Ring a Ring o' Roses", "Ring a Ring o' Rosie", or (in the United States) "Ring Around the Rosie", is a nursery rhyme, folk song and playground singing game. Descriptions first emerge in the mid-19th century, but are reported as dating from decades before, and similar rhymes are known from across Europe, with various lyrics. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. > The origin of the song is unknown. There is no evidence for the popular 20th-century interpretation which relates it to the ... ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/23 "2024-10-23T08:07:57Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > She was brought up to conceal sneezes as “unladylike”, I was told that stifling a sneeze is dangerous (makes your head explode). It is dangerous, though it won’t make you head explode. My ex-wife, a doctor of audiology, said that stifling a sneeze could make you blow out your eardrums. Not every time, but better to be safe than sorry. Sneeze away, but if you want to appear ladylike or gentlemanly, use a hankie or at least a tissue. My contribution to the thread: 🎶 _Hello virus, my old friend,_ _Seems I suffer you again,_ _I guess the rounds you are making,_ _And in my body you are baking,_ _And the virus that was planted in my nose,_ _It ever grows,_ _And it’s the sound of sneezing._ 🎶 ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/24 "2024-10-23T12:05:58Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Etciù in Italian That’s funny. I understand Italian fairly well thanks to French, but I’m sure I would never have guessed what this meant, perhaps not even in context. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/25 "2024-10-23T16:56:27Z")
I’m going to be the outlier here. Go ahead and marvel at my ingenuity. Many years ago I discovered that I could use a sneeze to actually speak words. Sort of. I can do something that sounds like “MalaHUNga”. I only do it in private but at least once I forgot and did in in public and got a strange look from someone. Now that I think about it I have not done it in years. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2024, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/26 "2024-10-24T05:43:42Z")
In Polish, it’s “apsik” … pronounced “ah-PSHEEK”. (An “i” immediately following an “s” turns it into a “sh” sound, like an “h” does in English.) > [@Spoons](#): > > My contribution to the thread: Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/27 "2024-10-26T15:51:42Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I was brought up with “atishoo”, as in the nursery rhyme > > [Ring a Ring o' Roses - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses) In my dialect/culture/whatever, “Ring Around the Rosies” doesn’t contain an onomotopoeia for sneezing at all. The word you’re probably referring to is rendered as “ashes, ashes”. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/28 "2024-10-26T16:26:04Z")
Not in the UK ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/29 "2024-10-26T16:31:24Z")
My wife’s sneezes register on local seismographs. On top of that, she’s a serial sneezer, which is like a series of hand grenades going off in the room. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064/30 "2024-10-26T16:40:34Z")
So her sneezes go KA-BOOM? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sound-of-sneezing-in-english-and-other-languages/1009064.md?page=1)