My guess would be the sneezer nervicals (technical terms I just made up, could you tell?) and the way they’re set up. Somehow the irritation that set off the first sneeze just doesn’t entirely stop feeling irritated at the end, and the air duct sensors figure that one more blast is needed.
I’m a double sneezer, mostly, but it varies, probably based on what caused the sneeze. Can’t always tell, at that. I do manage to cover my nose and mouth.
double sneezer, crowd pleaser.
I’m a double-sneezer.
My mother sneezed in 13’s. Little, tiny ones in fast succession. Very freaky.
I think the first sneeze is triggered by some foreign agent (ie dust) and the first sneeze ends up jarring lose/shifting stuff around to trigger a second one which sufficiently removes the irritant.
I’m told by vet books (although I’ve never asked my vet), that the dog “sneeze” is not the same as ours, and is in fact something we are incapable of. It’s a reverse sneeze, so to to speak, where all the mucus and irritant get blasted backwards. Or so I’ve read, so it must be true.
I’m often but not invariably a triple sneezer. Less often, two sneezes, and very rarely just one.
I’m usually a two-sneezer. Also, my sneezes are powerful. I’m talking full-body orgasm-level powerful. These things are start-in-my-nose-and-travel-down-my-spine-level-as-I-jerk-my-whole-body-around powerful.
I double-sneezed almost my entire life. But now, closing in 40, I am single-sneezing with increasing frequency. Have no idea what’s going on.
I think it’s a habit. Someone I worked with commented to me “Mark always sneezes three times in a row.” So I decided to force myself to sneeze more or less. Sure enough I was able to stop this. Now it’s random.
How in the world can you force yourself to sneeze more? I can’t sneeze on command.
You can, you simply try to hold in the sneeze as you do. So you get “half a sneeze” (is there really such a thing as “half a sneeze”
) but anyway you’ll have to sneeze again.
I looked all over for an answer, and here’s what I found,
[ul]
[li]a bunch of hokey pokey crap[/li][li]some logical hypotheses[/li][li] and a lot of people saying that no one knows[/li][/ul]
I have an interesting situation though, I sneeze, cough, and even yawn twice most of the time. I can’t remember the last time I sneezed only once, and I’ve been sick for the pay few weeks. My second sneeze comes out much stronger than the first, and it seems like I put my whole heart and soul into that sneeze.
The answer is as plain as the nose on your face: once for each nostril.
Seriously- no idea, but I never sneeze once or twice. Always half a dozen or so spread out over several minutes. My father-in-law always used to sneeze about a dozen times, one right after another.
ARGH: ZOMBIE!
As there isn’t an answer yet, I’ll add a small and entirely anecdotal data point:
I worked with a guy who sneezed 14 times. Since we both wondered if it was maybe just mental, we decided that he would honestly not count, and I would. We did that quite faithfully for 2 weeks, and he sneezed quite a lot (we were in dusty spaces quite often). He always sneezed 14 times.
So… ok, we can’t rule out that there is some mental thing going on. But it’s definitely not that he was counting and just willed himself to sneeze 14 times.
Hey, it’s your first post!
I hope :dubious: that first on the list is not referring to this thread or parts of it.
I’ll read “pokey” and “no one knows” as intentional puns.
My personal oldest zombie…And some people I was talking to are BANNED now. Hmm. Their posts seemed so normal. ::As said the neighbor of the just apprehended serial killer.::
I also am a three-sneezer. Eveyone who knows me knows that if I sneeze to wait until the third one to ‘god bless’.
Bob
My sneezes come in six-packs.
The half dozen…completes me.
I sometimes sneeze when I’m very hungry–as in, I am finding myself slightly nauseous from hunger. In that case, it tends to be two or three, usually with a cough in there too. Allergy sneezes, on the other hand, are what my dad calls the “drunken sneezes”. Many, many sneezes, with profanity and stumbling around like I’m drunk. 
I am a double sneezer. Always. I prefer to not hold anything back. Some people like to quiet them down. I like to let it all hang out. And shout it out. Sometimes it is one syllable, other times two syllables. Of course it is better without an audience. If there are people around I will cover my mouth. Otherwise, no. It is kinda orgasmic. Tends to create a lot of nose mucus. And is always followed with a blowing of the nose.
Cause once is not enough.