Instead of "Bless You"
Posted on: September 23, 2006 - 9:29pm
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Instead of "Bless You"
I seen this a long time ago on another site. What is a good thing for Atheists to say when someone sneezes instead of "Bless You?" A suggestion was "Gesundheit" - literally means "to your health" in German. Someone else suggested saying "Fuck You!" When someone sneezes, which made me laugh.
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well, if you are a Seinfeld fan you can say: "You are soooo good-lookin'"
Yeah Luna thats what I said somewhere else, but you might want to make sure the other person is also or someone might file for a restraining order...
I would think "Need a tissue?" or "don't die" would be something good to say too. Maybe say "don't die" in latin to make it fancy.
Why say anything?
Yes I dropped in just to ask that
Haha. That's what I do and I know the person is waiting for me to say it. What an awkward silence.
I always say "curse you".
I say, "Excuse you."
As in,
*sneeze* "Excuse me...."
or if some one else sneezes, "Oh, excuse you..."
That's what my parents taught me was polite. But the other day I said it to someone, and a friend said, "It's bless you."
I said, "Pardon me?"
Him: "You said excuse you.....it's bless you."
I said, "Well, that's what I say. "
He replied, "Well, she doesn't need to be excused."
I said, "Well, she doesn't need to be BLESSED either!"
I said to everyone, "Fine, I'll start saying 'Gesundheit'. It means good health in German. Everybody happy?"
It broke the tension, and everyone laughed......
But, really? Now I say nothing. 'Cause I don't want to get "corrected" again. It's not worth causing conflict I guess.
Grumble, I was being nice.
I know you were being nice but technically "excuse you" could be taken either way. Don't feel bad because 'no good deed goes unpunished.'
Gesundheit is perfectly normal, in English, and it doesn't make you look like a nitpicky asshole.
I just say. "To Hell with all you’re god damn sneezing, you think you’re so cool because you get to make random sudden outbursts. Well you’re not, so stop your sneezing get off your ass and get a job” It’s a little lengthy but it works for me.
On an entirely different note I don’t have very many friends
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." - Pascal
No way. Really? I thought your reaction was okay.
I sneeze.
Someone says, "god bless you."
My reaction is: "Why bless me for shooting snot from my nose at over 100 miles per hour?"
They say: Because it's nice to do.
I say: Nice? It's nice to point out that my body wanted to reject the foreign objects and germs that tickled my nostril hairs? Why would you say that?
They say: I've always been told to say Bless you when someone sneezes.
I say: Well, what if you had always been told to yell 'Monkey Balls' at someone when they sneeze? Would you do that?
They say; (Giggling or growling) NO I wouldn't say that.
I say: Why not? You just told me that the 'reason' that you say Bless you is because you had always been told to do so. Why wouldn't it make sense that if you had always been told to say MONKEY BALLS then that is what you would say?
At this point, 3 out of 4 people simply walk away. That 4th person will normally sit down and talk with me and we will discuss how many things in our lives that we have been told and how many things we had to figure out on our own. Those are great discussions and they always leave with a laugh. With some people the subject of religious belief has never entered the discussion. If it makes them think about ALL of the things in their life that they've just 'always been told' then it's worth it. Giving people the permission to be a freethinker by thinking along with them is all people really want in my opinion. So many times I see people afraid to question themselves let alone others. Especially with regard to their conditioned responses. I just want people that are comfortable talking about anything that they're thinking about to put it out in front of themselves first without putting undue limitations on those thoughts.
Too many times, I've thought that someone was open to discussion only to find that the discussion would be more productive had it been with a wall.
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I look like a nitpicky asshole? I'm confused.....
I only said it cause that's what my whole family said to eachother when someone sneezed while I was growing up.
Unless I read this wrong... then nevermind.....
I vote we say "Achtung!" or "Sieg Heil!" or something catchy like that.