the mystery of the missing "bless you"
Picture this:
You just sneezed.
What do you hear next?
The sound of silence? No one acknowledging that awkward noise that you just somehow formed with your body while trying to cover it up in as polite a manner as possible? To make matters worse: NO "BLESS YOU"?
If you're like me, that's precisely what happens (my goal in life is to be a more graceful sneezer. Here's hoping!)..and it appears to be the common trend these days. Whether in the office, the EL, the elevator, walking down the street, I sneeze...and nada! Thanks for the kind words, y'all.
I really have no idea what happens when you sneeze, but I like the acknowledgment of a (even ungraceful) sneeze and I don't know when that simple courtesy disappeared. Now the first part of that sentence is a lie because I just Googled "what happens when you sneeze".
The fact is: I don't really care why. I just know that we do and I'm bringing back the "bless you!" then tacking on a "may you live 100 years!" for good measure.
You just sneezed.
What do you hear next?
The sound of silence? No one acknowledging that awkward noise that you just somehow formed with your body while trying to cover it up in as polite a manner as possible? To make matters worse: NO "BLESS YOU"?
If you're like me, that's precisely what happens (my goal in life is to be a more graceful sneezer. Here's hoping!)..and it appears to be the common trend these days. Whether in the office, the EL, the elevator, walking down the street, I sneeze...and nada! Thanks for the kind words, y'all.
I really have no idea what happens when you sneeze, but I like the acknowledgment of a (even ungraceful) sneeze and I don't know when that simple courtesy disappeared. Now the first part of that sentence is a lie because I just Googled "what happens when you sneeze".
The fact is: I don't really care why. I just know that we do and I'm bringing back the "bless you!" then tacking on a "may you live 100 years!" for good measure.
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| image credit |
Author's note: I really was curious where "bless you" came from so I looked it up here:
Long and short of it is - IT DOES MEAN SOMETHING and you are supposed to well wish post-sneeze. "The phrase 'God bless you' is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth centurying a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague)."
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