(March 12, 2014 at 12:14 am)rexbeccarox Wrote: I've recently replaced the silence which had replaced "bless you" for "gesundheit". Because of the social norm, it just felt weird not saying anything at all.
That's pretty much where I'm going with this. It is a societal norm. Not only is it considered polite to say something, but some people consider it rude not to. I don't bow to society norms on everything (if I did, I wouldn't be an atheist, or a vegetarian for that matter), but I do generally try to be polite.
That's MISTER Godless Vegetarian Tree Hugging Hippie Liberal to you.