Response to a sneeze?

[tokutter]

It's a sneeze. Why am I socially obligated to say anything at all? It's just one of those weird social tics that's become grandfathered in; nobody really knows the origin of it off the top of their heads, do they?

Besides, why are we privileging the sneeze, anyway? What's so great about sneezes that they need blessing? If I fart out in public I'd be given a well deserved look of disgust, but if I expel a miasma of germ particles from my head I get fucking blessed? What's up with that?

I thought I read somewhere it started during the black plague....i guess when someone started sneezing it was a sign of bad things to come......so start blessing them.....

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I like the french version: santé
It means health... if you sneeze, it means you're not fully healthy, so we wish you a bit of health.
In portuguese, it ends up being "saúde"... but I still use the french version, because it resembles the standard, religious based "santinho", which comes from saint... and so people don't find what I say very strange and just move along.

Either that, or I just don't say anything... why should I? It makes no sense. Why don't people say something when you cough? I mean, a cough could represent a much serious condition, because you're expelling something from your lungs, while a sneeze only expels stuff from your nose.

And what do you say when someone pukes?

Exactly.....I think i came to the same conclusion in my teen years....I do however bless myself when i sneeze and I'm around my family and they forget to do so.....remind them they didn't do their duty......My question is this....If you are a multiple sneezer such as myself (3)....should they bless u once for series or 3 times..one for each