2006-07-10 23:51:56 · 21 answers · asked by carimack 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
Stcey is right, it comes from the Great Plague of London, 1665, when one of the initial symptoms of Bubonic Plague was sneezing. A person was blessed because it was thought that they were soon going to die.
PS...why cant ppl answer questions on here in their own words? Any old duffer can just go to Wikipedia and copy/paste, I get fed up of seeing this kind of unimaginative answer on here
2006-07-11 00:29:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Bless you is a common English expression used to wish a person well after sneezing.
Origins
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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.
Superstition
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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
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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.
2006-07-11 07:01:26 · answer #2 · answered by Reza Shahran 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It may have been the bubonic plague. When people sneezed (on of the symptoms) it could've either been a blessing to prevent the plague or a blessing that a bad spirit came out with the sneeze.
2006-07-11 06:55:15 · answer #3 · answered by Aloofly Goofy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is an old tradition that goes like this. When a person sneezes his spirit lives the body, and am not sure but bless you sends the spirit back into the body. Its like a split second death or something like that.
But anyway bless you is also away of saying hope you alright.
2006-07-11 06:59:03 · answer #4 · answered by Point Blank 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This goes back to some old time tradition, but simple sneezing was once thought to have caused death, or sneezing was part of the symtoms of a deadly disease. It was said as that you blessed because you were still alive.
2006-07-11 06:54:40 · answer #5 · answered by cubsfreak2001 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure how true this is but I heard that when we sneeze your heart stops beating. So after the sneeze it's a "blessing" that your heart continued again. Like I said I don't know how true it is but it's a "cute" story nevertheless. LOL
2006-07-11 07:00:02 · answer #6 · answered by IluvtheLORD!! 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had heard that people say that because way back when people where dying when they got sick such as with the cold and people would sneeze when they were sick so they thought that they were sneezing there souls out. So when somebody sneezed they would say bless you
2006-07-11 06:55:37 · answer #7 · answered by rebeccamc78 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is something to do with people long ago believing that when you sneeze you were possessed by an evil spirit, and so they said Bless you or God bless you.
2006-07-11 07:06:08 · answer #8 · answered by Judy H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it is because when you sneeze, your heart stops, and you get blessed in your, so to say, new life.
2006-07-11 06:54:29 · answer #9 · answered by AlphaOne_ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's believed that the blessing protects from evil spirits that threaten you when you sneeze.
2006-07-11 06:58:17 · answer #10 · answered by srebriu2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋