Traditional Responses To A Sneeze
In English-speaking countries, the common verbal response to another person's sneeze is "(God) bless you" or, sometimes in the United States, the much less common "Gesundheit" (the German word for "health") or "Salud" (the Spanish word for "health"). There are several proposed origins for the use "bless you" in the context of sneezing:
- Various alleged but conflicting superstitions relating the sneeze to evil spirits. This includes beliefs that a sneeze could release one's soul, thus leading to its possible capture by lurking evil spirits (as explained in the "Historic instances and practices" section above), or that the evil spirits could enter the body through the open mouth of a sneezing individual, or that the individual is sneezing out sins or evil spirits which had taken residence within the body and is thus in need of the blessing to prevent the exorcised spirits from re-entering the body. Some proponents of this last theory have further suggested that it was bad luck to open the mouth again to thank the person who uttered "Bless you" for fear of circumventing the original purpose of the blessing.
- Some say it came into use during the plague pandemics of the 14th century. Blessing the individual after showing such a symptom was thought to prevent possible impending death due to the lethal disease.
- In Renaissance times a superstition was formed claiming one's heart stopped for a very brief moment during the sneeze, saying bless you was a sign of prayer that the heart wouldn't fail.
- It has also been stated that one says "(God) bless you" so that one does not catch the flu, cold, or any other forms of sickness.
Indian culture is to respond with Krishna, similar to a blessing in western cultures.
Common English onomatopoeias for the sneeze sound are ahchoo, hachoo, achoo, atchoo, achew, atishoo and ahem, with the first syllable corresponding to the initial inhaling of air, and the last to the sound of the sneeze.
Read more about this topic: Sneeze
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