Published on 12, July, 2020
Anyone else get mildly irritated when people say "Bless you!" after you sneeze?
For me, it's "Great! Not only was I interrupted by having to sneeze, now you've added the obligation to say 'Thank you' to my troubles!". Also, can we drop the ritualised superstition given that the year starts with a 20?
the "bless you" stems from the middle ages belief that when you sneezed you were vunerable to the devil entering you and as with many sayings its just become common although to be honest i haven't heard it said in a long time since modern society is falling out of favour with religion
Really? I thought the obligation to say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes started during the plague when if someone sneezed they probably had caught the plague so you said ‘bless you’ to them as they were going to die shortly.
Apparently thats where the kids game ring a ring o roses a pocket full of posies A-tishoo A-tishoo we all fall down, comes from as well durring the time of the plague.
indeed that nursery ryhme was written over a hundred years or so after the plague plus the second part makes no sense to the plague
Cows in the meadows Eating buttercups A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all jump up.
There was a story that that was the case but it was apparently proved untrue.
I've heard this too. Thought it was such an innocent game we played as children and then discovered we were singing about people dropping down dead.
I wonder whether it really originated from there or whether that is an extremely well spread rumour, as said above, the sneezing doesn't really fit in as being associated with the plague.