Why do people say, 'Bless you' when you sneeze and not when you cough?
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There are many variations as to why we say Bless You, or God Bless you when we sneeze.
At one time people believed a man's soul could be inadvertently thrust from his body by an explosive sneeze, thus "Bless you!" was a protective oath uttered to safeguard the temporarily expelled and vulnerable soul from being snatched up by Satan (who was always lurking nearby). The purpose of the oath was to cast a temporary shield over the flung-out soul which would protect it just long enough to regain the protection of the corporeal body. Conversely, the sneeze itself was the expulsion of a demon or evil spirit which had taken up residence in a person. Therefore, although the "Bless you!" was again a protective charm meant to protect the sneezer from evil, in this version it was meant to ward off the re-entry of an evil spirit which a tormented soul had just rid itself of.
Another one is:
The heart was believed to momentarily stop during a sneeze (it doesn't), thus the "Bless you!" was uttered either as a supplication for life to return or as a congratulation upon its successful restart.
Other than that, I do not know anymore. Good question!
Because when you sneeze your heart actually stops beating for that very second. Or at least that's what I've been told anyways.
The old wives tale was that your heart stopped when you sneezed. People thought the devil or evil spirits would try to get your soul while your heart stopped. So, people said bless you to protect the person.
Today though, we know that a person's heart does not really stop when they sneeze. :)
Where i'm from there's an old wives tale that says if you sneeze, your spirit temporarily leaves your body. People say 'bless you' or variants of it so bad spirits would not possess your 'spirit-less' body while your own spirit tries to make its way back. :)
It came from WAYYYYY back. It was thought that when a person sneezes it is a sign that they will die soon. So to prevent the people from dying, they would say God Bless You... soo you don't croak tomorrow. hehe. I saw this years ago on the t.v. on the history channel.
pshhh! I say cough you
well its asign of respect for people
"Ring a ring a roses, A pocketful of posies, A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!"
Saying "Bless you" or "God bless you" was thought to be a way of warding off the evil spirits that caused the plague, or so the people of Medievil Europe thought. Sneezing was a sign of the coming the plague on someone, so they used to say Bless you to ward if off.
I had to sneeze right after reading this. How weird. :)
And nobody is here to say bless you. I'm in trouble.
I heard it's all to do with the plague, and sneezing was a sign of having caught it back then, so to bless someone after a sneeze was to bless them if they had plague!
I believe it comes from the time of the plague in London. Sneezing was a sign that you had caught it and people said Bless you as in God Bless you you're going to die soon.
The rhyme Ring a Ring a Roses also comes from the same time. A pocket full of posies (flowers to keep smells at bay)Atishoo, Atishoo, we all fall down (you sneeze then you die).
It comes from the days of the Black Death (the Plague), when people sneezed they invariably died soon after, so saying "bless you" was done to bless them in death, THAT IS THE ACTUAL TRUE STORY.
'Aitchoo, aitchoo, we all fall down.'
Remember this ditty? It comes from 'Ring a ring a roses, pocket full of poesies.' The ditty relates to the Black Death that swept Europe.
The sneeze (aitchoo) meant the person was going to die.
So 'god bless you' was uttered to bless the person before they died.
Another explanation is of course that everytime one sneezes a little bit of life leaves one with the force of the sneeze. I like the first explanation.
Back in the Old Country, folks thought your spirit was expelled when you sneezed. Saying bless you meant you had a better chance of having the spirit leap back into your body before the Devil heeee--sssself got ya!
What I learned was whenever a person sneezes, their heart skips a beat (I don't know if it is really true or not), so saying Bless You gives the person back the beat they lost. If I am alone and sneeze, I bless myself...old habits die hard. I listen to doctors (via headphones) all day and, yes, out of habit, if one sneezes, I will say Bless You..
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