At my work, I started saying "good luck" when someone sneezes. I'm happy that its caught on! I have no problem saying "bless you" or "gesundheit" (I'm half German after all,) but am wondering what other people say, if anything, (which I sometimes say nothing.)
Goves over a lot of peoples head gesundheit, especial where a lot of Spanish is spoken.
On a light note on occasion when I was younger I would say gesundheit to a woman and she was in a playful mood would reply. Do you want to find out? Taking gesundheit as goes in tight.
Gesundheit. I took German for 2 years and it basically means "to better health" or something like that. Or I could be interesting and say "Hail Satan." Lol.
We don't comment when someone coughs, belches or breaks wind. The origins of blessing someone for sneezing are supposedly in that they might signifiy the beginning of a fatal illness (typically Bubonic Plague.) That's a long time gone, now.
So I say nothing. I actually makes me feel awkward when someone comments on me sneezing.
its actually the pneumonic form of the plague. People usually died within days. SO a sneeze portended doom and for those that believed a blessing was needed pretty quickly
Not so sure about "breaking wind". A colleague broke wind...accidentally and laud and another teachers said to him "GOD PROTECT US ALL'.
Ich bin ein Wiesbadener! Guten morgen fellow German! On this topic, I have gotten to where I say nothing at all. I have said Gesundheit in the past, but now I say nothing. I bristle at the expectation that anything at all needs to be said. Maybe I'm just getting cranky in my old age. LOL!
Got to say something-mom taught me manners.
The obvious answer is "You are soooo good looking."
I say nothing at all and loathe when someone says "god bless you" to me. "Gesundheit" is acceptable if you must say something and "wow" is okay and a little phunny if I sneeze more than three times. If I'm in a mood, I'll give them the history behind their superstition in a very condescending way.
I like looking people in the eye and, with a straight face, tell them they're going to die of an anurism............................. Nah! I usually say nothing or Gesundheit. Gesundheit just means you're wishing them good health so I see no harm in it.
If they sneeze multiple times, I’ll say “that’s enough!”
I say "bless you and all the people you blew away!"
or a varaiation of gesundheit, such as gusundiheight, or any other way to mis pronounce the word