Sneezing

[rjoubert]

It's amazing how many people say "God Bless You" or "Bless You" when someone sneezes. Why are we blessing someone for spreading their germs around? I ask that rhetorically, since I am guilty of saying that myself.

I've heard that people in the old days were fearful that your soul was attempting to escape when you sneezed, and saying "Bless You" would force it back in. Has anyone heard of any other origins?

I'm also curious to know what is said, if anything, across the pond (in European countries) when someone sneezes.

 

[rjoubert]

I know the Germans (and some Americans) use "Gesundheit", which is the German word for Health. Koreans use "Kungang", which also means Health. Why don't we just say "Health" in America?

 

[jebenson]

From "The Straight Dope":

Why do we say "God bless you" after a sneeze?

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

Arrrr, mateys! Ye needs ta be preparin' yerselves fer Talk Like a Pirate Day! Ye has a choice: talk like a pira

 

[Welshbird]

I remember being taught at school that it began just after the plague, and also that the nursey rhyme came from the same time

Ring-a-ring a roses
A pocket full of posies
a-tissue a-tissue
we all fall down

[probably unnecessary explaination]
The roses being to stop the smell of the great unwashed, the pocket of posies being a posie of herbs thought to protect the bearer from illness, tissues from the sneezing as the first symptoms and all falling down being about mass death from the plague.
[/end daft explaining]

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[Scott24x7]

Willif,
Another version replaces a-tissue a-tissue (the more modern form) with "Ashes Ashes" which refered to the stacks of burning bodies that had died from the plague... (Also visible reference in "The Meaning of Life" with the "Bring out your dead".)


Best Regards,
Scott

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler."

 

[Sympology]

Ring-a-ring a roses"

- The first sign of the plague is a red ring on the skin...

"A pocket full of posies"

- In ye olden days, desease was thought to spread by smell. Getting rid of the smell, stopped the spread of disease.

"a-tissue a-tissue"

- The sneezing

"we all fall down"

- Dead !

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Regarding saying "Bless you" after someone sneezes, this is from jebenson's Straight Dope link:

The custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze was begun literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the plague (his successor succumbed to it). Gregory (who also invented the ever-popular Gregorian chant) called for litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's help and intercession. Columns marched through the streets chanting, "Kyrie Eleison" (Greek for "Lord have mercy"). When someone sneezed, they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not subsequently develop the plague. All that prayer apparently worked, judging by how quickly the plague of 590 AD diminished.

As for "Ring Around the Rosie": The explanation that it is about the Black Plague is an urban legend. See this explanation at Snopes.com.

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[CajunCenturion]

There is also a section about Sneeze blessing at Snopes.com.

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.asp

The acknowledge that the origin is undertermined, but do cite a reference that predates Pope Gregory the Great.

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[AnotherHiggins]

77 A.D.?!? Wow, that certainly blows away the Pope Gregory explanation.

Thanks, CC.

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[columb]

Re "Ring Around The Roses", thanks John for the snopes link. There goes a long held belief of mine. Next someone will tell me that Humpty Dumpty is not about Charles 1st.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[2ffat]

Next someone will tell me that Humpty Dumpty is not about Charles 1st.

OK, according to this site (

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/humpty_dumpty.htm),

it's about a cannon!

James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[columb]

Hmm, I've spent more time than my boss would like googling 'humpty dumpty origins' and Charles I doesn't get a look in. If it's going to be an English monarch then it's Richard III. However, as 2fft points out the most supported explanation is that it's about a cannon from the Civil War, which means I was in the temporal ball-park!

What does come out is that most, if not all, nursery rhyme explanations are, at best, conjectures, and, back on topic, many customs have such ancient roots that their origins are totally lost. 'touch wood' anyone?

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[Gooser]

There's a MacGyver episode that refers to the relationship between the rhyme and the Plague where he uses the Ring Around the Roses rhyme to solve a riddle and get into some kind of chamber using an ancient laser made out of a polished bowl and a giant ruby. So it must be true.

--Gooser

 

[EdiTek]

Soon we'll be getting sued for saying "God Bless You" in response to a sneeze.

 

[rjoubert]

Why? Did you patent the phrase? Like Trump did with "You're Fired!

 

[Trevoke]

No, but because it's offensive to people who don't believe in God and it's forcing your religion unto them. *of course*.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[rjoubert]

Many people just use the phrase "Bless You

 

[Trevoke]

What if you don't believe in being blessed?
In french, "blesser" is the infinitive of "to hurt", so "bless" could be understood as the imperative "hurt you".

So much miscommunication potential if you take away concept, reason and accountability! ;-)

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[Sympology]

One little niggle with the snoops main point of why ring of rosies is not based on the plague. The fact they say how can it be around for a few centuries without being ever written down.

That theory would make nearly every ancient folk lore a lie.

The Vikings and ancient Britions were known to pass down tales from generation to generation, for hundreds of years, without ever writing things down.


Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[Welshbird]

I was always of the belief that 'touch wood' is actaully part of a longer rhyme which says:

Touch wood; no good.
Touch iron; rely on.

But I can't reference that properly - I just remember hearing it somewhere. Probably my ever-s-wise Dad again...


Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]