Talk:Response to sneezing/Archive 1

Some old discussion
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D5%A1%D5%BC%D5%B8%D5%B2%D5%BB%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%A9%D5%B5%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%B6

It really doesn't mean live long and prosper, just in case you fell for the obvious somebody messing with you.

Lack of proper citations in non-Western languages
The section on responses to sneezing in Asian and other languages does not contain any citations and many I believe are based on original research. For example, in my mother tongue, Tamil, the practice of responding to someone sneezing is not widespread and responses if any are not universal. If proper citations are not provided, this article may be deleted. rams81 (talk) 05:31, 3 January 2011 (UTC)


 * rams81 is entirely correct, there is no practice in the Indian Languages / Cultures (Hindi/Punjabi/Bangla/Tamil etc. to use any of these words while sneezing. There are no written proof of any of these words used in this context to this date, unless they want to start writing from this day onwards and creating new traditions to be a part of the global culture HarryOme (talk) 12:47, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

I second the request for sources ... for Czech, there is written "na zdraví", but I don't remember anyone saying this after sneezing, you'd use "na zdraví" in place of "cheers" - as listed properly here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_(honor)#Brief_toasts_worldwide The most common is "zdravíčko" (diminutive of 'gesundheit'); "pozdrav pánbůh" is sometimes shortened to "pánbíček" (diminutive of god). Also, after serial sneezing, you'd usually use "potěš pánbůh" instead of "pozdrav pánbůh"; the literal meaning would be "let the God please (you)" but it is used in ironical sense, like one would better avoid such "pleasure". All IMHO and AFAIK, of course, where the heck do I get good sources about Czech? --213.175.37.10 (talk) 08:59, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

Secular (and Funny) Responses to Sneezing I Have Found Online.
I would like to provide some alternative responses to sneezing I have found online. (You might only feel comfortable to say some of these phrases those who are close co-workers or personal friends to you.)
 * "excuse me."
 * "Godzilla."
 * "Choo, bezzoo."
 * "Dog bless you."
 * "Tissue?"
 * "Good luck with that!"
 * "I hope it works out for you."
 * "Gesundheit!" (German for "good health".)
 * "Salud!" (Spanish. Saying after a sneeze means "Your health." Saying as a toast, means "Cheers".)
 * "Santé!" (French, "health".)
 * "Congratulations."
 * "Are you okay?"
 * "Are you going to be okay?"
 * "Did you have a good sneeze?"
 * "Can I go through your pockets?"
 * "Cover your mouth."
 * "May your personal deity enhance your well-being."
 * "Hey... clean that up, will ya?"
 * "Need a tissue?"
 * "Boomshanka!"
 * "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
 * "Science bless you."
 * "Good one!"
 * "Get any on you?"
 * "Good job."
 * "Now clean your face."
 * "That's funny."
 * "Thank you."
 * "The cold, vast universe is indifferent to your sneeze."
 * "Live long and prosper."
 * "So it goes."
 * "You exploded!"
 * "Excuse you." (If they don't say, "Excuse me.")
 * "I hope you are not contagious!"
 * "Thanks for spreading germs, Typhoid Mary."
 * "You are so good looking." (From the 38th Seinfeld episode, "The Good Samaritan")
 * "Scat, scat pussy cat, your tail is in the gravy." (This is the phrase I use with all my friends and anyone else I meet. After practicing this several times, it becomes easy and fast to say.)
 * "Scat (there) Tom, your tail is in the gravy."
 * Action: If you have a tissue handy, hand them a tissue.

Here are some reasons why I felt ethically compelled to post these above phrases:

1) People started saying "Bless you" for mythological reasons, see Wikipedia's page on "God Bless You" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you you can also say "excuse me after you sneeze

2) We are now living in the Scientific Age, not the Bronze Age. All religions and superstitions are human-made, they have all been debunked by science. It's time to discard superstitious sayings and advance to either more accurate phrases or funny sayings.

3) My proposition it's an insult to our intelligence to say the phrase, "God Bless You" or "Bless you".

4) The world is becoming smarter due to the internet and we are changing. This post is to help make this change.

5) I never, ever say, "Bless you." It's against my personal principles. My personal favorite sneeze response phrase which I use with all my friends is: "Scat, scat pussy cat, your tail is in the gravy."

6) There is a saying, "The internet is where religion goes to die." (Of course, the same is true with superstitions. The internet is where all superstitions go do die.)

The reason why people say "The internet is where religion goes to die" is this. Before the internet, if you were losing your faith, you'd go to your local pastor who would obviously try to get you back into his flock.

With the internet, if you post a message that you are doubting your faith, you can ask this question to twenty different ministers and you'll get twenty different answers. If ministers are actually in direct communication (prayer works!) with a "God", then all the the answers should obviously be the same. But they are not.

After reviewing all the reasons to keep your religious faith, you can find thousands of arguments online against all religious mythologies which are more compelling than the arguments for religion.

7) In the Scientific Age, religion IS losing the argument.

Request To A Wikipedia Editor:

I would like to request that a Wikipedia editor respond to me with an email and let me know if they will consider publishing my "Secular (and Funny) Responses to Sneezing" list on the main page of the Wikipedia "Responses to Sneezing" web page.
 * Wikipedia does not add collections of stuff from unknown places all around the net. If we did, instead of an online encyclopedia, we'd have to call ourselves a "pile of stuff collected from unknown places all around the net". If you have found encyclopedic information about the subject in reliable sources, we might be able to use it. Thanks. - Sum mer PhD  (talk) 17:47, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

In Response To Wikipedia Editor SummerPhd From Mike In San Diego, California, USA:

1) From your statement, I can then conclude that "God Bless You" is found in encyclopedias?

2) Would you please explain how British slang found its way into Wikipedia? Please see:

List of British words not widely used in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States

3) The list I provided are for secular people who would prefer to use alternative phrases when someone sneezes. I did not say this is a definitive list of phrases which 10% of males (ages 25-35) use in Kentucky.

4) The demographics of the religious is decreasing more rapidly than ever in the United States. Please check any reliable source of polls like Gallup and surprise, surprise, religions are losing numbers in their flocks. Hence, many secular people would prefer not to use outdated Dark Age sayings and phrases.

5) This list will be a big help to people in the United States and around the world. I'm sure there are many more clever and funny sayings, which could be added in the future, which will help people have fun when it comes to the little things in life, such as sneezing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by ‎63.204.102.142 (talk • contribs) 22:20, 11 November 2012‎
 * 1) Probably not. "Encyclopedic" does not mean "found in encyclopedias". You may wish to review "What Wikipedia is not". In particular, the info you wish to add is an indiscriminate collection of information.
 * 2) No, it doesn't apply here. Yes, other articles exist in Wikipedia. However, the existence of those articles or problems they may have have no import in discussing whether other articles exist or should have similar material. (The specific article you ask about, BTW, has been challenged repeatedly and repeatedly found to be encyclopedic and notable. See the most recent discussion for details.)
 * 3) Why you want to include it does not match our guidelines. It is a random collection of quips. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
 * 4) Immaterial.
 * 5) Immaterial.
 * By and large, your comments seem to indicate that you wish to provide helpful suggestions to people who may wish to not use "(God) bless you". Encyclopedias are not meant to include suggestions of what may be used. Rather, they attempt to document what is used.
 * If you find reliable sources discussing other responses to sneezing, we may have something to add here. At present, we do not. - Sum mer PhD  (talk) 02:46, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

In Response:

Ah... heck. Well obviously this post won't make in on the front page. But since you are nice enough to give me feedback, I definitely have to give you credit for at least responding to me. Obviously, I disagree with you. So, just for fun I'm going to respond to your last comments and I hope it's obvious that I do not expect a respond back to me.

1) Even though my original post might not be encyclopedic information, it is still very useful information and funny.

2) Comparing British slang to alternative responses to sneezing, in my book, is very much the same.

3) My comment number three is completely relevant.

4) If you have not checked the statistics or are a believer in any religion or superstition and hate people with nonbelief, of course you'd say my comment was immaterial, even though its not. (The reason why I use the word hate, is I've argued with enough believers and they hate it when I call them on the carpet for their Bronze Age beliefs and superstitions.)

5) My comments are from people saying what phrases they use. Maybe they are all lying? When someone sneezes, about 90% of the time, I always use "Scat, scat pussy cat, your tail is in the gravy." However, I am one person out of 7 billion on the planet. How an I prove to you that I use this phrase time and time again? I could give you the emails to my friends and they could confirm. I could make a video. But you would have to actually get to know me and see me in action to believe that I do this.

(Can you tell I'm a former activist for human rights? Yep, yep, we keep pushing and pushing!!!) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.204.102.142 (talk) 20:37, 12 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is designed as an encyclopedia. Information added must be relevant, encyclopedic and sourced to independent reliable sources. Failing that, this discussion is done. - Sum mer PhD  (talk) 21:47, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Cultural Polution?
I find it odd that so many cultures have a similar response to the sneeze. Do all of the responses grow spontaneously from the local culture or is it through interaction with more dominant cultures that the responses parallel each other?

Why is it that there are no similar responses to coughing, belching or flatulance?

12.234.66.12 (talk) 13:54, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

Gesundheit
Microsoft and Google translate return "bless you", Wikitionary has 'Bless you' as alternate definition. Literal old translation do not always match everyday modern meaning. A source about the modern meaning among English speakers would be helpful as translator services rely upon user feedback to correct their translation. 24.241.69.99 (talk) 21:05, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

do you know if u sneeze it show the symbol that you may be attacked by flu

Vulcan
The translation of "kudaya" or "vukhut thorshek" to Live long and Prosper cannot be a direct translation. They may have a similar meaning, but they're clearly very different from one-another, and neither of them at all like the more understood translation - dif-tor heh smusma. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seanbo (talk • contribs) 07:47, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

Vietnamese responses
It is incorrect that there is not a formal response to sneezes in Vietnamese. In fact, there is a sequence of approximately ten responses that can be delivered if there are enough consecutive sneezes. The first of these is “sống lâu” (long life) and “trăm tuổi” (age 100). (help requested to fill in the blanks) The Vietnamese catholics say "Đức Bà (one of the many title of St. Mary) chữa (heal)" ZappoTheGentleman (talk) 19:38, 19 October 2017 (UTC) ZappoTheGentleman (talk) 19:38, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Korean Terms Actually Vulgar?
The Korean terms mentioned seem to actually be formed from vulgar words, possibly as some sort of prank. (While I do not understand them myself, I spoke to a native about this and then used an online translator to check.) On NAVER, there are hardly any results that show them. I'm putting them here, just in case someone can find a source that demonstrates their validity, but I am highly skeptical. The two given are: 개취네쒜 and 에이쒜. Please feel free to delete these last three sentences if someone tries to reinstate them without a source.

I have been told that one might ask the equivalent of "Are you O.K.?" but I am unsure if this is even worth mentioning, as that could be used in reference to being sick, rather than being a cultural construction as a response to sneezing.

Blanket P.I. (talk) 21:45, 4 November 2017 (UTC)

English: Gesundheit
Do English speakers not use Gesundheit often enough for it to be listed under English? I don't even know what it means in another language; it's basically become another word English speakers use for "god bless you," regardless of whether English speakers know what it means to a group of people who speak a different language. Many people in America use it and know that it means "god bless you" without knowing its meaning in another language. I (and many) see it as the more secular / more polite way of responding to a sneeze. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ikjbagl (talk • contribs) 15:31, 22 July 2018 (UTC)


 * It doesn't mean "God bless you", it means "health"; it only replaces "God bless you" in equivalent English phrases.


 * Nuttyskin (talk) 15:48, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Different Sayings for Sneezes in a Series
I learned (and it could be a New York Jewishism) that after the first sneeze you say "Bless you!", after the second, "Keep you well!", and after the third, "A long and healthy life!" Fourth and subsequent sneezes just go back to "Bless you!", except my dad would humorously say, "If I bless you any more, you'll be holier than the Pope!" I learned French responses in a French-speaking dorm in uni. First sneeze, "A vos souhaits" (To your wishes); second, "A vos rêves" (To your dreams); third, "A vos esperances" (To your hopes).

Sometimes in Yiddish, instead of saying "Gezundheit" or "Azi gezint", we'll just say "Mazel Tov!" (Good luck!) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.83.46.229 (talk) 17:27, 21 January 2019 (UTC)

"Prosit" in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish
"Prosit" is used in all three of these languages, and the meaning of the word is the same for all (It doesn't mean anything and is solely used for when people sneeze)

However, in this list it seems that there are three different definitions of the word - one for each language, even though the meaning and use in all 3 languages is exactly the same. The danish one is definitely incorrect, as it states that prosit means "bless you", which is not true at all. The Norwegian definition ("no other meaning") is the best one, and should be used for all 3 definitions. The swedish definition explains the latin origin of the word, which is alright, but nobody who uses the word actually knows what the origin is, or what it's supposed to mean. — Preceding unsigned comment added by White Guy (talk • contribs) 00:05, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
 * I agree. Dictionaries published by the Swedish Academy show that it's correct for Swedish and considering the close relationship between the words I'm pretty sure that it's the same for Danish and Norwegian. A note explaining the Latin origin is in order, though.Sjö (talk) 06:05, 29 May 2019 (UTC)
 * And in response to the latest edit that says it means "I wish it will benefit you". No, it doesn't mean that any more than hocus pocus means "this is my body". Prosit means that in Latin but it isn't composed of any Swedish words. Sjö (talk) 04:48, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Oh no!
Not that! NOT THE Gesundheit! Please! Not the Gesundheit! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.146.203.11 (talk) 04:57, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

Including both Chinese and Cantonese?
Stumbled on this page yesterday, and noticed that both "Cantonese" and "Chinese" (in place of "Mandarin" or "Standard Mandarin", et cetera) are included. Perhaps this should be changed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by ND381 (talk • contribs) 14:15, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

In Hindi
In India we do not actually have any cultural response to someone sneezing that is used similarly to "Bless you", and definitely not चिरञ्जीवी भव or anything like that. The listing for Hindi should be removed Threecthreek (talk) 07:37, 20 July 2022 (UTC)