Why do people say "Bless you" when someone sneezes, but not for coughs, burps or farts?

Answer 1

Because there was an old myth that when a person sneezes that is the soul trying to escape. So when someone says bless you. It makes the soul have to stay in your body. That's what my mom told me anyway.

Answer 2

"Bless you is a common English expression used to wish a person well after sneezing.

Origins
There are many theories regarding the origin of this custom.

One traditional explanation for the custom is that it began literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory I the Great (AD 540-604) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the bubonic plague in AD 590 (his successor succumbed to it). To combat the plague, Gregory ordered litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's intercession. When someone sneezed (seen as the initial onset of the plague), they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not actually develop the disease.

Nevertheless the phrase bless you or god bless you in Greek literature predates the ascention of Gregory.

"Bless you, my dear!" he said, and "bless you, bless you!" at the second and third sneeze.
-- Apuleius, The Golden ***, AD 150

Superstition
Other theories are based on superstitions and urban legends about sneezing and what a sneeze entails. Some well known superstitions that may have contributed to bringing bless you into common use are:

The heart stops when you sneeze (it doesn't), and the phrase bless you is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating.
A sneeze is the expulsion of some sort of evil, and the phrase is meant to ward off the evil's re-entry.
Your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, and saying bless you prevents your soul from being stolen by Satan or some evil spirit. Thus, bless you or God bless you is used as a sort of shield against evil.
A sneeze is good luck and saying "bless you" is no more than recognition of the sneezer's luckiness.
Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began rather uninterestingly as a response for an event that wasn't well understood at the time.

Another urban legend states that you cannot open your eyes while you sneeze, or if you manage to your eyes will pop out. This is, as stated, nothing more than an urban legend.


Modern use
In many English-speaking countries, the German equivalent, gesundheit (which roughly translated means "good health!") is proffered after sneezing.

In some parts of Australia, the expression is also used when a person belches or breaks wind; this usage is primarily an indication that the blesser has not been offended by the gaseous expulsions of the blessed.


References
Opie, Iona, and Moira Tatum. A Dictionary of Superstitions. Oxford University Press; Oxford, 1992. ISBN 0-19-282916-5
Snopes Urban Legends - Bless You!
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you"
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Answer 3

A long time ago, people thought that sneezes were a sign of the devil because there wasn't really anything that led to them, a.k.a. they didn't know where they came from. So they said "God bless you!" when someone sneezes so the devil could get out of them. This habit carried over into modern days but now we just say "bless you" and forget the God part.

Answer 4

I was told that when someone sneezes that only for that second their hearts are known to stop. I do not know how true this is, but that could explain why people say"Bless You" when they sneeze.

Answer 5

Back in the day they thought that a demon or bad spirit was coming out of you when you sneeze so they "blessed" you. But they just thought burps and farts was improper etiquette.

Answer 6

It was to bless you from evil spirits believed to make you sick.Now it's just a custom showing concern. I say bless you for sneezes, coughs, burps and farts.LOL. You'd think I comitted a crime.

Answer 7

Oh Gosh, lots of reasons. When someone breaks wind or farts or burps at my house, we say "Better out than in" or "Barking Spiders" or "Excuse me" or we sing that horrible song "Beans beans the musical fruit..."

When someone sneezes his heart stops and saying "God bless you" means "I'm glad your heart started again."
Saying "God bless you" when you sneeze keeps the devil from flying down your throat.
When someone sneezes, say "God bless you and may the devil miss you."
When you sneeze your soul tries to escape and saying "God bless you" crams it back in (said by Millhouse in an episode of The Simpsons).
How about giving me the Straight Dope? --Rob Amato, Washington, DC

SDSTAFF Songbird replies:

If you've just sneezed, Rob, I think I'd rather give you a box of Kleenex.

The custom of saying "God bless you" after a sneeze was begun literally as a blessing. Pope Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) ascended to the Papacy just in time for the start of the plague (his successor succumbed to it). Gregory (who also invented the ever-popular Gregorian chant) called for litanies, processions and unceasing prayer for God's help and intercession. Columns marched through the streets chanting, "Kyrie Eleison" (Greek for "Lord have mercy"). When someone sneezed, they were immediately blessed ("God bless you!") in the hope that they would not subsequently develop the plague. All that prayer apparently worked, judging by how quickly the plague of 590 AD diminished.

The connection of sneezing to the plague is not the first association of sneezing with death. According to Man, Myth, and Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion and the Unknown, many cultures, even some in Europe, believe that sneezing expels the soul--the "breath of life"--from the body. That doesn't seem too far-fetched when you realize that sneezing can send tiny particles speeding out of your nose at up to 100 miles per hour!

We know today, of course, that when you sneeze, your heart doesn't stop, nor will your eyes pop out if you can keep them open (www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_30 4.html), nor does your soul get expelled. What does get expelled are hundreds upon thousands of microscopic germs. The current advice when you sneeze is to cover your mouth with your arm rather than your hand. That way, all those germs won't be on your hands when you touch the countless things you're going to touch in the course of the day (don't tell us; we don't want to know).

There are many superstitions regarding sneezing, some of which you've already listed. But here are some of my favorites.

Sneeze on Monday for health,
Sneeze on Tuesday for wealth,
Sneeze on Wednesday for a letter,
Sneeze on Thursday for something better,
Sneeze on Friday for sorrow,
Sneeze on Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow,
Sneeze on Sunday, safety seek.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a letter
Four for a boy.
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told.

And lastly, a sneeze before breakfast is a sign that you will hear exciting news before the end of the day.

Answer 8

I've heard 2 reasons for this. One is that way back whenever (quite a long time ago), people believed that when you sneezed, your heart stopped. Also a long, long time ago, people believed that when you sneezed, it meant some of your soul was leaving and it gave the evil spirits (devil, whatever) a way into your body.

Answer 9

Don't know.. perhaps because no one feels sorry for persons who burp or fart...hehe. No but honestly i sneeze a lot and it's embarassing that everytime I do it someone goes "Bless you".

Answer 10

if the meieval superstition had someone slated to die if he sneezed (possibly, sneezing was a mark of the plague) then the protection of "bless you" was appropriate. Burping was never thought to be such a danger.