Off the top of my head, I think something in traditional European beliefs said that the soul was at risk of flying out of the nose when one sneezed. Hence people would say "bless you" in case you died and were at risk of otherwise falling into hell.
(Edit:) This vaguely supports my memory: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_bless_you#Origins_and_legends
"A sneeze is your soul trying to leave your body. Saying God Bless You shoves it back in."
I always say this as a joke. I'm pretty sure it's from the Simpsons, and not an actual historical belief. If you have any source that shows this an old wives tale or folkloric legend, I'd love to see it. That'd make it even funnier to me haha.
I was told this explanation in the 1970s by someone who was told it in the 1930s. So unless Groening is a time traveler, it didn’t originate with the Simpsons.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bless-you/ is a good read; the truth is that Europeans and Middle Easterners have been doing it for so long (at least 2000 years) that the reason is lost to time; now it’s purely tradition/cultural. Early writings record that it was done, but not why.
Makes sense why my mom sneezes upwards of ten times in a row now
And why not farts
My girlfriend says "bless you" whenever I fart
She sounds like a keeper
bless her
Be the change
This guy I worked with used to say, "What happened?". He would always feign concern for the farter.
BLESS MY FART
I say bless you normally for sneezes and sarcastically for everything else. Farts, hiccups, burps etc. Peak comedy I know
Because the onus is on the farter to say something courteous. Because we, for some reason, decided that a involuntary, natural bodily function is rude.
involuntary
Speak for yourself
Well now I do
"I hope you didn't just shit yourself on my couch. 😐"
I don't know, but I wish it'd stop.
Yeah we should just blankly stare at them instead as they cover you in a mist of snot
If someone sneezes directly at me then the last thing I'd want to say is "bless you".
Perhaps it'd be less awkward if we all say "fuck you" by convention instead.
I could get behind that
I use the German word Gesundheit. It means health. I will offer it for most audible bodily functions, though, not just sneezes.
That's funny.
I use it for all of those, but also if someone uses or words I don't understand or if they bite their tongue or anything similar. I successfully managed to confuse a lot of people doing that and it brings me great joy.
i dont know why but i always assumed it relevant/appearing around the black death in the middle ages
It's hard to say when it began, but it's a nearly worldwide tradition. Check out this page of different salutations:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_to_sneezing
My belief is that it's generally because sneezing in a sign of illness, and illness tended to be more dangerous centuries ago, before antibiotics and when many people had less access to nutrition, consistent heating, sanitation and so forth.
Sneezing was a symptom of plague.
You can say “Godzilla” if you want to
I always thought we should say excuse me like if we farted or burped. I do say that after sneezing sometimes.
For bless you think it started because of the old wives tale that states that when someone sneezes, they skip a heartbeat or something similar.
It's because the demons fly out of you when you sneeze, and you need to be blessed to prevent them from getting back in, or so they thought back in Black Plague days.
Also those are the only two I actually know, so I’d love to learn others
In Denmark we say "prosit", Latin for "may it help". The funny thing is that in German they use prosit for "cheers".
Prost is cheers
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