In English-speaking countries, the common verbal response to another person's sneeze is "[God] bless you", or, less commonly in the United States and Canada, "Gesundheit", the German word for health (and the response to sneezing in German-speaking countries). There are several proposed bless-you origins for use in the context of sneezing.
In non-English-speaking cultures, words connoting good health or a long life are often used instead of "bless you," though some also use references to God.
In certain languages such as Vietnamese, Japanese or Korean, nothing is generally said after a sneeze except for when expressing concern when the person is sick from a cold or otherwise.
Gezondheid, or if the person has sneezed three times, (Drie keer) morgen mooi weer
Less commonly: proost
"Health!", the equivalent of respectively "Gesundheit" as said in English, or if the person has sneezed three times, "(Three times) the weather will be nice tomorrow."
From Latin, prōsit. (“may it be good”) (to your health)[notes 1]
Old-fashioned: à tes / vos amours after the second sneeze, and qu'elles durent toujours or à tes / vos rêves after the third. More archaically, one can say Que Dieu te/vous bénisse.
"To your wishes" or "health". Old-fashioned: after the second sneeze, "to your loves," and after the third, "may they last forever." More archaically, the translation is "God bless you".
Merci or Merci, que les tiennes durent toujours (old-fashioned) after the second sneeze
"Thank you" or "Thanks, may yours last forever" after the second sneeze
Großwachsen! (Transylvanian-Saxon; from Romanian "Să creşti mare!"; used solely for children, usually after the usual "Gesundheit" for the first and/or second response)[4]
There is also a custom to respond three times to three sneezes like so: Guð hjálpi þér ("God help you"), styrki þig ("strengthen you"), og styðji ("and support").[6]
Dia linn or Dia leat or Deiseal, which may be a form of Dia seal
The first response means “God be with us.” The second response means "God be with you." The last means "May it go right," but might be a form of "God with us for a while."
Kher be inshalla. Many times when one sneezes, they say that the thing they are about to do will not happen. So, a listener says Kher be. "It will be a good thing, God willing," or the shorter version, "A good sign hopefully."
Na zdrowie! or Sto lat! or Zdrówko! (a diminutive form of "zdrowie" – health). Sometimes Prawda!.
"To your health!" or "Live a hundred years!" or "[To your] health!". Sometimes "Truth!", indicating the sneeze means something the sneezer had said before is true.
Na zdravje, Res je or the old-fashioned Bog pomagaj
"To your health," "it is true" or "God help to you." Folk belief has it that a sneeze, which is involuntary, proves the truth of whatever was said just prior to it.
In Latin America, Salud, or Dios te bendiga. In Spain, it can also be Jesús after the first, María after the second and y José after the third, while in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela and Colombia, it's replaced by salud after the first, dinero after the second and amor after the third.
"To your health", "Jesus", or "God bless you", or "Jesus" after the first, "Mary" after the second and "and Joseph" after the third in Spain, while in Latin America, they say health, money and love.
будь здоровий (BООD' zdoh-RO-vyy) to an informal male sneezer, будь здорова (BООD' zdoh-RO-va) to an informal female sneezer, or будьте здорові (BООD'-te zdoh-RO-vee) to a formal sneezer.[11]На здоров'я! (na zdoh-RO-v-ia). Правда (pra-vda) if person sneezes while other person's speech.
Sometimes when a child sneezes, an adult will say "Cơm muối", which means "Salt & Cooked rice". These words are believed to expel the evil spirit that's possessing their weak phách (yin soul) at that moment.
Hungarian is a Uralic language, its most closest language relative is Finnish. Hungarian is most spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian communities in southern Slovakia, western Ukraine (Subcarpathia), central and western Romania (Transylvania), northern Serbia (Vojvodina), northern Croatia, northeastern Slovenia (Prekmurje), and eastern Austria.
Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to many traditional calendars, however, Sunday is the first day of the week, so Tuesday is the third day of the week. In some Muslim countries, Saturday is the first day of the week and thus Tuesday is the fourth day of the week.
A loanword is a word at least partly assimilated from one language into another language, through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term that is well established in the linguistic field despite its acknowledged descriptive flaws: nothing is taken away from the donor language and there is no expectation of returning anything.
Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German, is the umbrella term for the standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for communication between different dialect areas. German is a pluricentric Dachsprache with currently three codified specific national varieties: German Standard German, Austrian Standard German and Swiss Standard German.
A sneeze is a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. A sneeze expels air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic involuntary action. This action allows for mucus to escape through the nasal cavity. Sneezing is possibly linked to sudden exposure to bright light, sudden change (drop) in temperature, breeze of cold air, a particularly full stomach, exposure to allergens, or viral infection. Because sneezes can spread disease through infectious aerosol droplets, it is recommended to cover one's mouth and nose with the forearm, the inside of the elbow, a tissue or a handkerchief while sneezing. In addition to covering the mouth, looking down is also recommended to change the direction of the droplets spread and avoid high concentration in the human breathing heights.
A jinx, in popular superstition and folklore, is a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck.
In religion, a blessing is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will.
Denglisch is a term describing the increased use of anglicisms and pseudo-anglicisms in the German language. It is a portmanteau of the German words Deutsch (German) and Englisch. The term is first recorded from 1965.
Gesundheit may refer to:
A contronym, contranym or autantonym is a word with two meanings that are opposite each other. For example, the word cleave can mean "to cut apart" or "to bind together". This feature is also called enantiosemy, enantionymy, antilogy or autantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic.
Ve is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced labiodental fricative, like ⟨v⟩ in "vase". It can also represent
A toast is a ritual during which a drink is taken as an expression of honor or goodwill. The term may be applied to the person or thing so honored, the drink taken, or the verbal expression accompanying the drink. Thus, a person could be "the toast of the evening", for whom someone "proposes a toast" to congratulate and for whom a third person "toasts" in agreement. The ritual forms the basis of the literary and performance genre, of which Mark Twain's "To the Babies" is a well-known example.
"Mazel tov" or "mazal tov" is a Jewish phrase used to express congratulations for a happy and significant occasion or event.
L'esprit de l'escalier or l'esprit d'escalier is a French term used in English for the predicament of thinking of the perfect reply too late.
God bless you is a common English phrase generally used to wish a person blessings in various situations, especially to "will the good of another person", as a response to a sneeze, and also, when parting or writing a valediction. The phrase has been used in the Hebrew Bible by Jews, and by Christians, since the time of the early Church as a benediction, as well as a means of bidding a person Godspeed. Many clergy, when blessing their congregants individually or as a group, use the phrase "God bless you".
To cross one's fingers is a hand gesture commonly used to wish for luck. Early Christians used the gesture to implore the protection of the Holy Cross. The gesture is referred to by the common expressions "cross your fingers", "keep your fingers crossed", or just "fingers crossed".
Sláinte means "health" in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is commonly used as a drinking toast in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. However, the toast is also increasingly being used in other countries within the whisky community.
Yes and no, or similar word pairs, are expressions of the affirmative and the negative, respectively, in several languages, including English. Some languages make a distinction between answers to affirmative versus negative questions and may have three-form or four-form systems. English originally used a four-form system up to and including Early Middle English. Modern English uses a two-form system consisting of yes and no. It exists in many facets of communication, such as: eye blink communication, head movements, Morse code, and sign language. Some languages, such as Latin, do not have yes-no word systems.
Yiddish words used in the English language include both words that have been assimilated into English – used by both Yiddish and English speakers – and many that have not. An English sentence that uses either may be described by some as Yinglish, though a secondary sense of the term describes the distinctive way certain Jews in English-speaking countries add many Yiddish words into their conversation, beyond general Yiddish words and phrases used by English speakers.
The Gesundheit Radio was an art project exhibited in MOMA, the "back-story" of the piece was reported in the press without clear indication that the work was an art exhibit and back-story complete fiction.
↑ Ons volksleven - Volume 5. L. Braeckmans. 1893. p.23. Nu nog hoort men dit leste in Duitschland, ofschoon het Gott helfe dir sterk afgewisseld wordt met het onchristelijk Gesundheit.
1 2 From Latin where it means "I wish it will benefit you"
↑ It is somewhat known to say Schönheit, "beauty", after a second or third sneeze and Klugheit, "prudence" after another, or the like, though this is somewhat humorous. The sense is to extend the wish from health to yet other personal qualities also ending in -heit.
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