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Ah... Ah... Achew!!!

1sikbITCH

1sikbITCH

Diamond Member
In the dark ages or medieval times or whatever people thought that a sneeze stops your heart for a beat and at that very moment a demon can sneak in and steal your soul. Therefore they said "God Bless You!" very quickly to protect that person.

Today, a thousand years or more later, we all know better and yet generally we all say "God Bless You". I remember back in the day going up in the hole to cop heroin. Somebody sneezed and the dude that was serving said bless you man here's your dope and the whole alley busted out laughing. It just flows out of most people automatically.

Since there is no basis at all for this ritual other than "tradition" I am asking if you would be comfortable just ignoring the sneeze completely as you would a cough and just keep on talking or doing whatever else you were doing as if it never happened.

I myself would never NOT say it as society expects us to and I am too old to be disrespectful to people unless I hate em. For the same reason I'll probably tip until I die unless I go to one of those fancy "no-tip" places the kids are all raving about 🙂
 
I generally say "cover your mouth", or "shut up!". :colbert:

So, should I go make a thread about "Oh God, Ooooh God... OHHH MY GODDD!!!"?
 
You can not separate actions taken within a society/culture and that society/culture. The customs of a society/culture can not be independently valued or, evaluated because of that society/culture. From a logical viewpoint the custom may seem pointless or silly. However, the over riding cultural/societal norms makes it have perfect sense. The power of society/culture is to provide a framework for people of disparate backgrounds to interact without killing each other. In other words, even if you win fighting "city hall," you still lose.
 
Yes, I would. And no, I wouldn't depending on the situation.
There is a word for a type of person that is counter cultural ...
Hipster!
 
I prefer to say gesundheit. I'm not a religious man so god bless you or bless you doesn't seem right but saying good health....I'm ok with that.

To answer your question. Sometimes I say gesundheit but other times I just ignore it. Depends on the mood I'm in and who I'm talking too.
 
bbhaag said:
I prefer to say gesundheit. I'm not a religious man so god bless you or bless you doesn't seem right but saying good health....I'm ok with that.
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I was raised Catholic but both of my 'rents said gesundheit, so that's been my reflexive, go-to phrase. But almost everyone I've ever come across uses God Bless You. It bothers me not one whit.

Like Magnus was saying, God Bless You is just a pervasive cultural more, so rote and routine I've never experienced it as some sort of theocratic invocation.
 
Fanatical Meat said:
You're way over thinking this
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Perhaps but, there is a much bigger issue with American 'youts' and politicians acting as if everyone around the world is basically the same, language notwithstanding. The truth is, it's just not reality. People from different countries or, regions within our own country, simply think differently, prioritize differently and, live differently than you do. Customs and common ways of doing things are the grease of society. Want an example of society without those customs and commonalities? Check out Somalia.
 
Ken M said:
People like you are destroying America with your secular non-values.
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LOL ok burn some witches there Ken.

This thread was about Tipping but if I said that the forum would melt. We've got 10,000 tipping threads. So it was about God Bless You. We do both only because society demands it, and that's good enough for me. Both are relatively benign.
 
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I refuse to say any form of "bless you" and if you don't say anything people react like you kicked their dog. So going with gesundheit seems like the easiest course of action. But I agree, a sneeze should be treated like a cough and ignored, or better yet, it should be up to the sneezer to issue apologies to all those in the area. They're the one spreading germs, why should they get a polite acknowledgement for it?
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
Perhaps but, there is a much bigger issue with American 'youts' and politicians acting as if everyone around the world is basically the same, language notwithstanding. The truth is, it's just not reality. People from different countries or, regions within our own country, simply think differently, prioritize differently and, live differently than you do. Customs and common ways of doing things are the grease of society. Want an example of society without those customs and commonalities? Check out Somalia.
Click to expand...

You're way over thinking this
 
1sikbITCH said:
LOL ok burn some witches there Ken.

This thread was about Tipping but if I said that the forum would melt. We've got 10,000 tipping threads. So it was about God Bless You. We do both only because society demands it, and that's good enough for me. Both are relatively benign.
Click to expand...
Don't know if the poster has a reputation but I think he was just joking with you.
 
bbhaag said:
I prefer to say gesundheit. I'm not a religious man so god bless you or bless you doesn't seem right but saying good health....I'm ok with that.

To answer your question. Sometimes I say gesundheit but other times I just ignore it. Depends on the mood I'm in and who I'm talking too.
Click to expand...

+1
 
1sikbITCH said:
In the dark ages or medieval times or whatever people thought that a sneeze stops your heart for a beat and at that very moment a demon can sneak in and steal your soul. Therefore they said "God Bless You!" very quickly to protect that person.

Today, a thousand years or more later, we all know better and yet generally we all say "God Bless You". I remember back in the day going up in the hole to cop heroin. Somebody sneezed and the dude that was serving said bless you man here's your dope and the whole alley busted out laughing. It just flows out of most people automatically.

Since there is no basis at all for this ritual other than "tradition" I am asking if you would be comfortable just ignoring the sneeze completely as you would a cough and just keep on talking or doing whatever else you were doing as if it never happened.

I myself would never NOT say it as society expects us to and I am too old to be disrespectful to people unless I hate em. For the same reason I'll probably tip until I die unless I go to one of those fancy "no-tip" places the kids are all raving about 🙂
Click to expand...
If something similar happened in a computer network, it would be referred to as a worm.



...or a sign of a systemic firmware bug, since it's persisted through so many generations.
 
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