And there’s the edit window problems again. What’s going on exactly?
I’m logging in each time I reply before AND after I type my response…
I guess I’m getting a Linty Login headache. 
I say bless you.
Or if I sneeze though, I’ll say my own religion’s terms for it. It’s habitual and I don’t really even think about it. But I always tend to say it quietly to myself if in public, just easier than not having to explain or have someone go “pardon me” or something. :shrug:
But I have to consciously think about the terms “Bless you” though. And though I don’t always do it, i try to do it. Because it’s a small way of social interaction that can help to cheer someone up or make them feel better, especially more so if they’re religious. If they’re not religious, I’ll try not to do it, but sometimes i’ll say it anyways.
But i NEVER say God Bless You. My blessings only come from me.
I really wish people would not say it, so I don’t. I actually had no idea that people considered it “etiquette”. I always thought it was a superstition. I do tend to sneeze a lot, especially during allergy season, and I get embarrassed when people draw attention to it.
“Achoo” “Bless you.” “Achoo” “Bless you.” “Achoo” “Bless YOU!” Just knock it off and let me sneeze in peace.
Do people really think it’s rude to say nothing? It would be rude to draw attention to someone else’s belch or fart–why is sneezing different?
Do people in the U.S. actually say “God bless you”? I never hear it spoken in any way other than “Bless you” after a sneeze. And I don’t think that it is actually ill-mannered to say nothing. It’s mostly a superstition and a tradition to say “Bless you.” (And one that I usually participate in.)
Sneezing is probably different from belching and farting in that it is not rude to call attention to a sneeze – which is not considered gross in our culture.
Moving thread from IMHO to The BBQ Pit.
Lovely. Czar, I only asked for Lintable to pit me.
Anyway, I’m happy to see the recent posts. I hate it too when I get an allergy attack and people need to say it for each sneeze, getting louder with each one. It’s clear they are annoyed with my incessant sneezing. Like they’re saying, “Jeez, enough already!”
What would happen if we farted in allergy season instead of sneezing? Dang, just did.
I always blare my car horn when someone is about to sneeze, especially if they are about to sneeze in Spanish, because it is my 1st Amendment right to drown out their sneeze.
I don’t say “God Bless You” to strangers or people at work, that seems a little wierd to me, as if I am some sort of certified blesser. Instead I usually say “Salud,” which to me is just a friendly social way of saying “I hope you feel better.”
“You are not logged in or you…” Yep, again.
Thank you. I will use “Salud” from now on.
And thanks for moving this to the pit where I can now legally say,
Fuck You, Linty Fresh and the childish horse you continue to ride.
Ban the motherfucker, mods. He hijacks very fucking thread he thinks he can translate.
Grow up, you fucking baby. One more reply and you get my address. Come on down, as we say in America.
It’s rampant, ignorant superstition, carried forward to today. I find it to be rude and annoying. I’ve had sneeze attacks where I’ll cut loose with 7 or 8 in a row and some doofus thinks they need to say “God bless you” after every frigging one. I usually wind up telling them to stuff a sock in it.
Thank you. Another good example. I am not a believer, so it really seems like they’re saying, “Go unicorns!” or something. I hope my use of commas is as regal as requested. (Liking this BBQ pit!)
I am 29 years old.
Sometime within the last five years, it finally hit me that people are saying “bless you,” as in “God bless you.”
All this time, I’d been saying “blushyou,” because that is what you say when people sneeze.
I will continue to blush people when they sneeze in my presence, and if you don’t like it you can go to hell.
love
yams!!
When I was a kid, I thought that my mom was saying “Blessue” (rhymes with “tissue”).
That brings me to another annoyance I have with the practice…to me, it’s something that, if you say it at all, you would say to children. It seems rather childish to say to an adult. I’m actually not sure why I feel that way. Obviously, plenty of adults think it’s appropriate to say to other adults. However, I think it’s like asking another adult, unironically, what Santa Claus is going to bring them this year.
Sneezing in public is a minor faux-pas (very minor, but it is one), and there is nothing in the least polite about telling someone, especially a stranger, that you have noticed that they have made a faux-pas, let alone in drawing it further to the attention of anyone else within earshot. In fact it is the epitome of rudeness!
In addition to Cecil’s reasons, it was also believed in way-back times that a sneeze was the expulsion of an evil spirit from the body. Blessing a sneezer helped prevent the expelled spirit from returning. With the widespread use of post-sneeze blessings, these spirits have been forced to seek refuge in televisions.
Locrian, are you for real? How old are you? Be aware that if you say you’re older than 17, it’ll actually look worse for you.
I live in one of the rougher sections of Boston. Petty crimes, gang activity and going to mass seem to be the most popular afterschool and weekend activities, and if you don’t happen to be directly related to these guys, you watch your mouth around their kids.
I mention this, because every once in a while I run into someone on these boards or real life who makes me question exactly how long they would survive here. I’m no tough guy, and my brushes with danger extend to a few high school fistfights and getting pulled over by the cops once (I was let off with a warning.). I do just fine in this neighborhood, though, because however stupid I might actually be, I don’t act like it with these people, because I was raised better. I treat them and theirs with respect and so far, they’ve returned the favor. It doesn’t exactly hurt that I don’t have that much to steal. I have to wonder what would happen to a guy like Locrian at the tender mercies of guys like these.
I see it happening both ways. On one hand, I have a strong suspicion that guys like Locrian are 99% Internet rangers, and the first time someone asked him politely–or even not so politely–to watch his mouth, this guy would shut the fuck up and slink away. As far as the god bless you thing goes, I don’t care, really. I don’t think not saying GBU after a sneeze necessarily makes you a dick in and of itself. In your case it’s just a penile extension; unfortunately, it’s attached on the one sticking out of your collar (I’m being nice and assume that you put on a shirt in the morning and don’t walk around with your man-tits hanging out on the way to whatever groundbreaking, rewarding employment people like you generally find.).
On the other hand, if Locrian doesn’t have guts, neither does he really have sense, and I could see him stopping in an ice cream shop after a long hard day of curing cancer, or whatever people who spout off on messageboards in their spare time do for a living, and after finding out that ice cream shops don’t serve beer–because when they went over that lesson in fourth grade, he was too busy deriving advanced calculus formulas or something–he’d let rip with a curse and when someone asked him to tone it down, he’d talk about believing in bullshit before realizing that he was talking to a dockworker with cocaine issues, and well . . . Those cancer research patients will just have to wait until the poor guy gets out of traction.
Seriously, Locrian, let me repeat. I don’t give a fuck. OK? Go ahead with your bright and busy day coming up with plans to save the earth from oncoming asteroids and not saying God bless you or cursing wherever you feel like it because your parents couldn’t be bothered to teach you how to act maturely. Go ahead. Or go ahead not doing that crap and just saying you do on the Internet. That’s actually better for you in the long run, because it will allow you to learn how to act like a functional adult by observing and reacting to the world, which is preferable to the way quite a few guys like you learn manners, which involves a lead pipe inserted into your cheek by a real hoodrat who honestly doesn’t care about going back to jail.
So have fun in life, and I’ve got to hand it to you: For an inarticulate, misbegotten son of a bitch, you’re actually pretty tenacious. Good on you.
Bless you.
:rolleyes:
That’s exactly what I feel like when my boss does it to me, especially because her God Bless You! is often accompanied by gagging and snorting noises…very hard to describe, but very embarrassing, especially if I sneeze several times in succession. And she is fast…she really wants to get that GBY in before you even quit sneezing. Since I was brought up to say “Excuse me” after I sneeze, and “Thank you” after someone says “God bless you”, then I have to, in the midst of recovering from a sneeze, say both. And if I sneeze a second or third time, she ups the GBY’s (and adds the sound effects) so that I feel like I’m annoying her. She means well, but I hate it. Just let me sneeze and say “excuse me” for making a noise and spewing germs all over, and let’s move on!
I think it’s funny if I sneeze in say, the grocery store, and hear a disembodied “God bless you!” float over from several aisles away…then I have to shout out “Thank you” loud enough to be heard…give me a break!
You may think you are being polite by saying it, because that’s how your mama raised you, but I would never think you impolite for NOT saying it. In fact, I appreciate it more when people pretend not to notice when I sneeze.
I met a man for business reasons today. “Hi, how’s it going?” he asked. “How is what going, and would not the more pertinent question be whence?” I replied. There was a silence, which I appreciated; I like silence. He extended his hand, but I refused it, saying politely but firmly, “thank you, but my hand is not presently in need of being moved up and down approximately twice.” Appearing strangely nonplussed, he asked if he could get me anything. “Many things, I imagine,” I replied, “although if we are to conclude our business, I suggest we enumerate them later.”
Another silence, this time longer. I could sense that we were developing a rapport.
“Please sit down,” I said, knowing that many people require furniture to be pointed out to them before they notice it. I have always been able to spot it right away; others’ gratitude at my perspicacity pleases me. I sat too, and brought out my business papers. “Ah, are these the projections?” he inquired. “No, these are all real,” I replied. “Holographic technology of this sophistication has not yet been invented.” This answer appeared to discomfit him somewhat; I suspect he had been watching science fiction motion pictures, and taking them too literally. I did not look forward to explaining that the taxi I had booked for his departure was incapable of flight.
Our business was concluded swiftly, due to my guest’s strangely muted demeanour, and unwillingness to disagree with my statements. I think he felt ashamed of his earlier technological faux pas. Rising to leave, he again offered me his hand; I reminded him that my own hand was at a satisfactory height, and received in return another gratifying silence. “Well, goodbye,” he said. “I do not believe in God, and accordingly do not accept the possibility of his being with me,” I replied. “I acknowledge that you are about to leave,” I added, knowing that this sort of superfluous nicety is sometimes expected.
At this, he turned on his heel and walked to the taxi; as I anticipated, his countenance betrayed dissatisfaction with its ground-borne nature.
All in all, this meeting was a success. The subsequent email silence is surely proof of this.