I don’t think I’m alone in thinking, “Wow, terrifying.” Science has come a long way in helping us understand the way our  bodies work. (See “The Surprising History of the Lobotomy” as related to schizophrenia. But we won’t sink our ice picks into that just now.)

Dating back to AD 77, possibly earlier, this idea of shielding a person against evil was widely held. It was incorporated into folklore such as the Irish folk story “Master and Man” by T. Crofton Croker. Reading it will throw you back to the days of analyzing literature in college, but there is an amusing advertisement for the Blackberry cell phone about six paragraphs in that proves people in the 1800s really did have great foresight!

It always fascinates me to see where our modern colloquialisms come from. Those of us who identify as Social Sneezers may feel our haphazard throwing around of the phrase “bless you” has more purpose now. What an honor to be able to help someone return their spirit to their body after it tries to escape.

Wikipedia goes on to say:

In the past some people may have thought that the heart stops beating during a sneeze, and that the phrase “God bless you” encourages the heart to continue beating.

I told you I would leave science out of it, but one has to wonder: What would happen to the pacemaker industry if those whose hearts beat to their own drum simply tried to sneeze less, or sneeze more around Social Sneezers who would “bless” them out of arrhythmia?

Ignore the part where our sources say this belief was held “in the past.” I think it’s worth a shot.

For any who identify as Shy Sneezers or Showy Sneezers, let’s talk about “bless you” and the alternatives in other languages. If you find your ancestral need to save the souls of strangers has long since expired, let’s look to Wikipedia for a healthy alternative reasoning that may spark your interest.

In some cultures, sneezing is seen as a sign of good fortune or God’s beneficence. As such, alternative responses to sneezing are the German word Gesundheit (meaning “health”) sometimes adopted by English speakers, the Irish word sláinte (meaning “good health”), the Spanish salud (also meaning “health”) and the Hebrew laBri’ut (colloquial) or liVriut (classic) (both spelled: “לבריאות”) (meaning “to health”).

As I’m sure you can tell by now, I am a Social Sneezer. I don’t try to hide my sneezes. (Metaphorically speaking, I mean. Hiding the actual sneeze in a tissue should be a preferred practice across the sneeze board.) Somewhere deep in my subconscious I may have an irrational fear of losing my soul when I sneeze–I am prone to losing things, just ask my chapstick. But all cultural context aside, what could be the harm in blessing someone, or throwing a nice, kind sounding German word at them every now and again? The physical act of sneezing has given us a way to bond as a society, a way to show our humanity in small ways. Whether the phrase saves souls or not, what could be the harm in sharing it a little more?

What Sneeze Personality are you? Share in the comments below!