MadMordigan

Should I have to say "God bless you!" when someone farts?

'Ducks!'

'Barking Spiders!'

Stephen Maturin

"Get any on ya?" [It also works for belching. ]

Harumi

Posting because I have reached the number 69!

And I've never said anything, mostly because there was never a word for it in Chinese (in Asia if you sneeze, they just ignore you). My parents never said anything, so I never got into the habit.

Besides, it's so stupid. "Bless you" has become something to the equivilant of "Yes, I know you sneezed, but it's okay, we've all disturbed other people by sneezing before".

Dephanie

Mecha_Dude

I use Gesundheit, too

Shake

Once upon a time, I started a thread on this very subject. I too, use Gesundheit, my background being 50% German. My wife just says, "Bless you," sans god. She even wondered aloud to me about how this would affect our not-quite 2 yr old son. To me, the word "bless" and its variations (blessings, etc.) still carry too much of a religious connotation for me to use.

Harumi, congratulations on post #69! I am quickly approaching 10x that number of posts, and even recently passed post #666! I had a thread about it, tho' I can't remember whether it was here or in misc. discussions.

Jon

Someone correct me here, but I think the whole 'godblessyou' thing with sneezing started from the belief that the devil could enter in thru your mouth when you sneezed. Hence, if you asked god to 'bless' the sneezer, ol' beelzubub would freak out and stay away. Which of course begs the question, why wouldn't he try to get into any open orifice? (talking; farting; your nose is always open, except when infested with rhinovirii; you get the picture).

It's a silly superstition that's stopping with me. I say nothing. When someone 'blesses' me, I grunt. Curmudgeonly, I know.

Walter_Mitty

Bless you suffices for me...

Try this: "Do I smell burning tires, or is it just me?"

Viti

Saying "bless you" is just a societal quirk. I am sure they don't say anything at all in many other countries (an seriously, why shouln't the sneezer say "excuse me" as they do for a belch, cough, sneeze, or fart?). It has no eal meaning anymore so I don't care. I do not add the "God" though...and never have, even when I was calling myself a Xian!

Silent Dave

True story: back in college, when someone sneezed around my advisor, he would either say "Bless you" or ignore it. But whenever *I* sneezed, he would look at me and say "Stop that!"

I never figured out why.

Anyway, I say "bless you" when someone sneezes. It's more polite than not saying anthing, and what people don't know is that I'm talking about Artemis . . .


Dave

Chicken Girl

I've always said "Gesundheit".