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Originally Posted by InfiniteNow
So, when someone sneezes, it's common to say, "Bless you." This is a shortened version of "God Bless you." I've heard various proposals for how this term came into vogue.
One example is that before many of our medicinal advances, a sneeze could indicate that you had caught something deadly, and it was the wish of the person who heard the sneeze to send you their best wishes (i.e. they didn't want you to die from whatever it was causing the sneeze). So, to do this, they asked for your blessing. "Bless you."
Have you heard any other stories for the various reactions to a person's sneeze? Have any thoughts of your own on the matter?
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Hi All
Its interesting how words mean different things to different people, to a certain extent there is a universal definition, and the other side is a cultural and personal definition.
Here in NZ we say 'bless you' also when someone sneezes not because we wish life upon another person, moreso because it is a form of habit, something we all grow with over the years.
Upon reading his article I am reminded of a nursery rhyme ''Ring Around the Rosie' .. Every child has happily joined hands with friends and recited the familiar nursery rhyme, "Ring around a rosie, a pocket full of posies. Ashes, ashes, we all fall down." Few people realize to what this seemingly happy little nursery rhyme actually refers to .. This nursery rhyme began about 1347 and derives from the not-so-delightful Black Plague, which killed over twenty-five million people in the fourteenth century. Wikipedia say 1665 and the great plague of London ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_Around_the_Rosie
The "ring around a rosie" refers to the round, red rash that is the first symptom of the disease. The practice of carrying flowers and placing them around the infected person for protection is described in the phrase, "a pocket full of posies." "Ashes" is a corruption or imitation of the sneezing sounds made by the infected person. Finally, "we all fall down" describes the many dead resulting from the disease..
The words 'god bless you' refer to this tragedy in time many years ago ..
Love to all xxxxxxx Ashley
