Dumbest superstition of all? I think so:

[Redstone]

Saying "bless you" or "gesundheit" or anything else when someone sneezes. (I've never done it because it's so ridiculous.)

Why don't people say the same or similar when someone coughs?

PS: I'm getting better; the therapy is working out very well.

Redstone

[Mojambo]

1. Seinfeld had the best take on this particular phenomenon.

"You're sooooooo good looking!"

[Rising Phoenix]

2. ok, I had a relationship with somebody who said bless you when someone burped, coughed, farted....

It started out as a joke, but really stuck.

Even after we broke up I continued to do it.....people HATED it. I have finally stopped doing it.


Also, I am one of those multiple sneezers, and after 3 god bless you's I say just say infinity

[rurallib]

23. if somebody gave me a 'bless you' for every fart their lips would fall off.

[madinmaryland]

3. God bless you, my friend.

Well you posted, so I blessed you!

:hi:

[NightWatcher]

4. my vote is for not allowing women on ships (not cruise, but commercial) because they are bad luck

My SO is a marine biologist and has run into captains that get nervous when she boards a ship because in ye olden days, women were considered bad luck on fishing and commercial vessels.

Some women have also run into trouble on military ships

[kimi]

5. Maybe if she takes along a six-toed cat?

I've heard that in those same old olden days, ships sailing from England brought along six-toed cats for good luck. It's supposed to explain the preponderance of polydactyl cats in the Northeast US. :shrug:

[Redstone]

6. I gotta check that out (though I'll do it

the old-fashioned way, without using the Internet).

We have numerous maritime museums around here, including one ten minutes from our house. I'll drop by there soon and ask someone.

(Yes, I'm in New England, and I know how strange the natives (one of which I am) can be, so I'd not be surprised to hear that the six-toed cat superstition is real.)

Redstone

[bluedigger]

14. If you see my old friend Tad in Bath, say "Hi" for me.

[brendan120678]

29. Forget the museums...if you live near a port...

go down to the docks and ask an old salty. He's probably your most accurate source of information.
Lots of them around both Old Saybrook and New London.

[vadawg]

34. yup very bad luck on a ship, also priests and anyone called jonah

i guess other peoples superstitions always look dumb to us, bit ours are just as dumb to others..

[HopeHoops]

7. As I understand it, the tradition comes from a belief that your soul is in danger when you sneeze.

The concept behind the phrase is to protect the soul from being appropriated by bad spirits after a sneeze. I have a different tradition. I shout, "sneeze into your fucking sleeve, asshole!" But hey, that's just me.

[rebel with a cause]

8. Probably because your heart supposedly stops when you sneeze

and it does not do so when you cough. :shrug:

I can sneeze ten times or more in a row sometimes, so that may be why I have heart disease. Just joking. About the heart disease not the sneezing.

I always use the Latino term 'Salute'. I use to use 'gesundheit' but then a Jewish employer took offense to it. 'God bless you' just doesn't suit me anymore.

[jobycom]

9. I just figured it was a wish for health at a sign of bad health.

:shrug: Hardly the weirdest superstition out there. I think for me it is the belief that if someone dies, people must automatically declare that a government conspiracy killed him and any evidence to the contrary is a coverup.

[Redstone]

17. Or if maniacs fly airplanes into scyscrapers.

Redstone

[jobycom]

21. Yep. Oh yeah...

Glad to see you around! :hi:

[Redstone]

22. Thanks for the good thoughts.

Redstone

[TK421]

10. It's good to see you again sir!

:D glad to hear you're doing okay

[Redstone]

18. Thanks. Have a cheesesteak hoagie for me, would you? I lived in PA for

quite a while, and the one thing I miss the most is those glorious sandwiches.

Redstone

[TK421]

32. I will do that!

:D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My dear Redstone!

Well, look out, baby, cause I say "bless you" when someone sneezes! I hate the silence after a sneeze...

Glad to hear you're getting better!

This place needs a good dose of Redstone.

:hug:

[Redstone]

19. Hey, Peg. I don't even sound like a moron on the phone anymore, or at least

any more than I always have.

It's a relief to know that I still heal fast, even in my dotage.

Redstone

[Lionel Mandrake]

12. I answer "gesundheit" with "krankheit". n/t

[pink-o]

13. I heard it started because in the dark ages

people thought sneezing was expunging evil spirits from one's head.

Yeah, we haven't come very far in 700 years.

[david13]

15. It is a royal pain stupid superstition. It was based on an idea in the

dark ages, aka crissteeassaninity, that evil spirits or the devil could enter you when you sneezed, as at that time you were in a vulnerable moment, and by saying that idiotic phrase, they could prevent it. ? Wasn't it Hillary what said, 'it takes an idiot'?
I usually say, what? Bless me with sneezes? You want to bless me with sneezes? Why not something I want, like money, bless me with money, or lottery winnings, something like that.
The bad luck for women on a ship flies in the face of the stupidity that says that a boat is a "she". Where did those idiots come up with that? It's bad luck to go sailing with a woman aboard, but they take a boat that they incessantly and repetitively refer to as "she". The boat she, this boat she. Ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
dc

[phasma ex machina]

16. A hat on a bed.

[skygazer]

20. It is very silly and what's more silly is that people think you're rude when you DON'T say it

Why do I have to acknowledge someone else's sneeze? I don't acknowledge their farts or other bodily sounds. (That would be fun though to come up with something to say every time someone farts - might warrant a thread)

Good to see you Redstone - glad you're doing okay.

[rcrush]

24. I say "DAMN You arent dead! Sneeze again you hag!"

[seemunkee]

25. Major allergies run in our family

We would have to be saying it constantly.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

26. Bless You- Medieval origins

Since sneezing was often a first sign someone may have the plague, 'Bless You' or salute, or sante' or all other good wishes were meant to give off good luck and health to whoever sneezed.

There was an idea then that disease could be transferred in bad air, which in Italian was called 'mal aria' known as... you guessed it! malaria.

This is also why people who collected dead bodies during the plague often wore masks with bird beaks, with the thought (mistaken, of course) that the curve of the beak would stop the disease. They were called, in Italy, becchini (back-ee-nee) - literally, little beaks, which is a term still used colloquially in Italy to describe mortuary service workers.

If any of you plays Assassin's Creed II, the doctors in the game are 'becchini' as they wear that mask.

[nuxvomica]

27. It's not really a superstition so much as a pleasantry

It's like saying "Excuse, me" when you walk in front of someone at the video store, or "Thank you" when someone holds an elevator door open for you. In terms of the annoyance level of such things, it's not as bad is when people pretend to open a whole line of discussion with a casual, passing-in-the-hall greeting like "How's it going?" or "What's goin' on?" instead of just "Hey". I really hate it when people I hardly know greet me in passing with "What's goin' on?" I feel like saying "Well, that's hardly any of your business, now is it?"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. It's not a pleasantry

It's a mindless reflex.

[Ineeda]

28. A bird in the house

I had a friend who didn't even allow a picture of a bird in her house and wouldn't visit because I have a cockatiel. A supposed death portent.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

30. It really bugs me when people, especally total strangers, do that

I have respiratory allergies, so there are certain times of the year when I sneeze a lot.

So it's morning, and my allergy meds haven't kicked in yet, so I have a sneezing fit in public, and some idiot says, "Bless you" after every single sneeze.

Thank you for calling attention to my sneezing fit! :sarcasm:

Unless you really believe that sneezing makes it possible for the devil to fly into my mouth, then shut up with your "bless you's" and "gesundheits."

[LNM]

33. We had a neighbor for a short time that was terrified of our black cat.

She wanted to borrow a rake so she followed me to our garage. Our black kitty started walking toward her and she (the neighbor) started backing up. I told her she didn't need to be afraid, it was a nice kitty. She said "but it's black". Weird.

[graywarrior]

35. I crack up when I find myself saying excuse me while trying to get out of someone's way especially

when I just had a heated argument with that person or I hate their guts. I feel Canadian when I do that. Polite to a fault.


PS...so glad you are doing better.