Talk:Gesundheit

Meaning
German, meaning "health". Used to wish someone "health" after sneezing. It has been exported, but seems primarily to be used in the US. Similar is "bless you".

Not used for toasts
The article says: "Also, in Germany it is a common phrase used before giving a toast." This is not the case and never was. Must be a confusion with roman languages (sante, salut, ...). I removed the sentence. --80.219.124.74 13:40, 20 April 2006 (UTC) (German)

It has been and still is wording in a toast, to health. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.143.53.117 (talk) 03:36, 8 October 2018 (UTC)

Gesundheit is actually German-Yiddish for "Bless You" ?
What is meant by this? That the religious expression "Bless you" is said as Gesundheit in "German-Yiddish"? Please clarify --Godtvisken 05:05, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

It is a wish of good health. The suffix, "-heit", is a modifier meaning (don't hold me to this) "state of". "Gesund" means "good health". So, Gesundheit technically means "a state of well-being". (reworded to reduce awkwardness) If anyone else knows this any better, feel free to contribute.130.70.11.189 (talk) 01:42, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Yiddish in 120 B.C.?
I thought Yiddish evolved from various dialects of German around the turn of the first millenium... It certainly was not around in 120 B.C., and neither was German in its present form.

Are you kidding?
I'm fairly sure that Viroptic doesn't stop anybody from sneezing, and more importantly, I'm fairly sure that sneezing isn't something doctors are working to stop. My inclination is just to delete that last paragraph. The Wisedog 19:48, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Trivia
What's with the trivia references? It's lame to try and list uses of the word Gesundheit in pop culture. How useful is that to readers? There's hundreds. --Colinbartlett 18:08, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

It is NOT an Esperanto word.
I don't know who came up with that stuff about Gesundheit being an Esperanto word but that's nothing but fictitious crap. Esperantists say, "Sanon!" ("health" in the accusative case). --Rick MILLER 15:02, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Misspellings
'...and misspelled as "gazoontite" or "gazoontide".'

Now, that's just silly. While there may be scattered cases of people who are incredibly inept in spelling (or perhaps in the case of small children), I have never seen "gesundheit" misspelled so egregiously--people misspell it often, certainly, but generally as something like "gesundeit" or "gesuntite." "Gazoontite" is ridiculous.

And regardless, why would misspellings need to be noted in an encyclopedia entry?


 * Agreed on all points. Removed the misspellings. 168.9.120.8 (talk) 15:46, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Yiddish
I think the article needs to better establish that the word came into English from Yiddish (if this is indeed so), with sources. --Eliyak T · C 06:51, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Umm, with a number of your recent edits you now seem to be pushing an anti-Yiddish POV. What sources would satisfy you for the effects of Yiddish on American culture, see List of English words of Yiddish origin. IZAK (talk) 08:08, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Other meanings
I witnessed the use of "Gesundheit" as a word people say when somebody else tries (unsuccessfully or awkwardly) to pronounce a complicated term or especially foreign sounding loanword. The usage of this seems to be quite common in the American Mid-West, although I have no idea how widespread it is in English-speaking areas with less German influence. Does anybody have any further information/sources/suggestions for that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.25.153.16 (talk) 05:11, 26 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I think it is a joking comment of a pronounciation sounding like sneezing. Here in Germany, we also sometimes say "Gesundheit!" when someone tries to pronounce a complicated word or foreign name, with sneezing-like results. ("Babylon 5 was created by J. Michael Straczynski." - "Gesundheit!" would be such an example.) So, it's not exactly another meaning, but used the same way as with sneezing. -- megA (talk) 13:41, 15 March 2010 (UTC)