# What ultimately insignificant things manage to bother you anyway?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ultimately-insignificant-things-manage-to-bother-you-anyway/559430>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 4, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ultimately-insignificant-things-manage-to-bother-you-anyway/559430 "2010-11-04T06:19:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![DWSKAMS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b3f665/32.png) [@DWSKAMS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWSKAMS)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2010, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ultimately-insignificant-things-manage-to-bother-you-anyway/559430/121 "2010-11-22T12:11:58Z")

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[QUOTE/]  
On the subject of sneezes, and more in line with the OP, something that greatly annoys me is the whole “bless you”/“gesundheit”/whatever protocol for sneezes. Odds are my sneeze was not symptomatic of the plague or any other life threatening condition. I’m not certain, at this point, of the existence of a soul. I am fairly certain, however, that if I do have one, it will not escape through my nose. I don’t receive similar special treatment when I cough, burp, or fart. Why does a sneeze merit any sort of response at all? It really bothers me. I never react at all when people sneeze; I don’t see the need. I’ve been told before that I’m rude because I don’t say “bless you”. Really? Also, I don’t thank someone when they bless me (are they some sort of priest or other holy sort?) after I sneeze, and I’ve been called out on that, as well.

Also, apparently I sometimes cough in such a way as can easily be mistaken for a sneeze. Despite my aversion to the whole “bless you” protocol, I still occasionally find myself explaining that “no, I just coughed”, when someone blesses me after mistaking my cough for a sneeze. To which they generally seem understanding, so my lack of thanks is no longer uncouth, as they see that I wasn’t in need of blessing after all. Madness, I say!  
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I’m in love with you…

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**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Angel\_of\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_Doubt)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ultimately-insignificant-things-manage-to-bother-you-anyway/559430/122 "2010-11-23T02:14:53Z")

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Regarding “literally”,

Back in my know-it-all, “I don’t need to look it up” days, I assumed the word had some association with “literature.” Literature is fiction, not reality, right? So to say literally meant not in reality. So I took from this trainwreck of thought that “literally” meant “figuratively.” That’s what you get for assuming.

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