MrG
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- May 25, 2008
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Thomas' description is the one I've heard. I've also heard the "heart stops" thing, but not in the context of it being the reason we say "bless you."
I do, too.
I assumed everyone does this, but maybe not.
Growing up I heard that we say bless you because of the folk belief that your heart stops when you sneeze, so it's a good idea to get in a last blessing unless it never starts up again. Given Piob's broken rib (not that rare an occurrence actually) there may be some validity to that belief.
I'd heard it in parochial school that it was an early belief that your soul was in danger of leaving your body when you sneezed - hence the rapid "Bless you!"
Now, how they reacted when someone blew a lot of phlegm out when they sneezed, I'm . Did they make the sneezer shove it back into their nose? It could be spiritual protoplasm.
Reminds me of an episode of the Tick, BTW.
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Thomas' description is the one I've heard. I've also heard the "heart stops" thing, but not in the context of it being the reason we say "bless you."
I say "excuse me" when I sneeze. Overly polite Southern thing, I guess.
I do, too.
I assumed everyone does this, but maybe not.