# Is it ok to say "God bless you" when someone sneezes?



## Omega Force

Hello.

When someone sneezes we usually say "bless you". But would it be ok to say "God bless you" instead? Or would it be weird?

Thanks in advance for your answers.


----------



## Language Hound

Actually, "Bless you!" is the shortened form of "God bless you!" here.
Both are said, as is (the German) "Gesundheit!"


----------



## Susan Y

It would be very unusual to say "God bless you" in BE. Nothing wrong with it but it would be, as you say, weird. We just say "Bless you"; it's a set phrase.


----------



## se16teddy

It is OK. There may be instances where it would sound weird, such as on the lips of Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist. However, in my experience we often say _bless you _after a sneeze, and_ God bless you _in other situations, for example as a valediction. Wikpedia discusses the phrase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_bless_you


----------



## bennymix

Hi Susan,
Are you actually saying that in Britain, if there's a sneeze and someone says "God bless you"  (without dwelling too much on the word 'God' or sounding too pompous or preachy), that hearers will think to themselves,  "How weird!"

I'm stunned.   Can other British people confirm?  




Susan Y said:


> It would be very unusual to say "God bless you" in BE. Nothing wrong with it but it would be, as you say, weird. We just say "Bless you"; it's a set phrase.


----------



## Loob

bennymix said:


> Hi Susan,
> Are you actually saying that in Britain, if there's a sneeze and someone says "God bless you"  (without dwelling too much on the word 'God' or sounding too pompous or preachy), that hearers will think to themselves,  "How weird!"
> 
> I'm stunned.   Can other British people confirm?


Gosh, are you really stunned again, benny?

I'm with Susan.  "Weird" (the OP's word) may be slightly strong - but yes, I would definitely, for a moment, think "That's odd - I wonder why (s)he said that?"


----------



## Keith Bradford

...Whereas hearing "_God bless you_" in response to an act of kindness would be perfectly normal.


----------



## Glasguensis

Loob said:


> "Weird" (the OP's word) may be slightly strong - but yes, I would definitely, for a moment, think "That's odd - I wonder why (s)he said that?"


I think three of you is already enough evidence that this is unusual in BE, but I agree too. It would be enough for me to suspect that such a person was evangelically religious.


----------



## Wordsmyth

I'm sure four is enough; but, just for the fun of stunning benny a bit more, I'll add my view. The only people I know who say "God bless you" are the few who openly project their religious beliefs in everyday life: Glasguensis hit the nail on the head with the word "evangelically". Based on my own experience, I'd go further than Keith and teddy, and suggest that that's true even in situations other than sneezing.

Ws


----------



## sdgraham

Omega Force said:


> When someone sneezes we usually say "bless you". But would it be ok to say "God bless you" instead? Or would it be weird?



I have no problem with the above contributions, but "OK"  covers a lot of territory, particularly in the United States where political correctness seems to have run amok.

One poor girl recently was disciplined in school for saying such a thing when a classmate sneezed.  See HERE



Language Hound said:


> Actually, "Bless you!" is the shortened form of "God bless you!" here.
> Both are said, as is (the German) "Gesundheit!"



Just to be clear, _Gesundheit_ is German for "health" and has no religious reference.


----------



## Language Hound

sdgraham said:


> ...Just to be clear, _Gesundheit_ is German for "health" and has no religious reference.


Yes, thank you, I should have pointed that out.
I just wanted to provide the three possible responses
that are used in the U.S. when someone sneezes.
(Of course, an additional non-verbal response
would be to ignore the sneeze completely and say nothing!)


----------



## Wordsmyth

sdgraham said:


> _ [...] _One poor girl recently was disciplined in school for saying such a thing when a classmate sneezed.  See HERE _[...]_


  (Now _I'm_ stunned, benny!)

As well as the original incident being ridiculous, it's also sad that the subsequent defence needed to rely on constitutional rights and arguments for religious freedom! The girl didn't even mention "God"; apparently she just said "Bless you". If everyone concerned had bothered to check on the etymology of "bless", they'd have found that it has its origins in words that were independent of religious meaning — and that it has some current uses that are also independent of such connotations. 

Out with the 'sociopoliticians'! Linguists to the fore!

Ws


----------



## bennymix

In the US, about one third of people are happily self labeled as 'evangelical'.   I'd guess that by now, in Britain they are not rare, if for no other reason than immigration from the Caribbean and Africa.    To this, add in Catholics, not only homegrown, but, e.g. from Poland, not to speak of Ireland.

In any case, thanks to all for your enlightening input.




Glasguensis said:


> I think three of you is already enough evidence that this is unusual in BE, but I agree too. It would be enough for me to suspect that such a person was evangelically religious.


----------



## Language Hound

Wordsmyth said:


> ...As well as the original incident being ridiculous, it's also sad that the subsequent defence needed to rely on constitutional rights and arguments for religious freedom! The girl didn't even mention "God"; apparently she just said "Bless you". If everyone concerned had bothered to check on the etymology of "bless", they'd have found that it has its origins in words that were independent of religious meaning — and that it has some current uses that are also independent of such connotations.
> 
> Out with the 'sociopoliticians'! Linguists to the fore!


I couldn't agree with you more!


----------



## wandle

Glasguensis said:


> It would be enough for me to suspect that such a person was evangelically religious.





bennymix said:


> In the US, about one third of people are happily self labeled as 'evangelical'.


Being classed as evangelical by denomination is a different thing from being evangelically Christian. It is possible to be either without being the other.


----------



## MuttQuad

I hear "God bless you" often enough in America -- and not necessarily from evangelicals. However, the PC police nuts have started to make a stink about it. At the recent election, a poll worker in New Hampshire got herself fired for using that phrase. See http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/11/daily-talker-fired-for-god-bless-you/

Until recent years, it was common usage, and nobody took offense or caused trouble for hoister who said it.


----------



## theartichoke

MuttQuad said:


> I hear "God bless you" often enough in America -- and not necessarily from evangelicals. However, the PC police nuts have started to make a stink about it. At the recent election, a poll worker in New Hampshire got herself fired for using that phrase. See http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/11/daily-talker-fired-for-god-bless-you/
> 
> Until recent years, it was common usage, and nobody took offense or caused trouble for hoister who said it.



As far as I can tell from the article, the poll worker wasn't saying it to sneezers.

For what it's worth, I was raised by and around evangelical types, and "Bless you!" after a sneeze was considered something that wasn't done--a kind of taking God's name in vain, if you will.


----------



## Language Hound

MuttQuad said:


> I hear "God bless you" often enough in America -- and not necessarily from evangelicals. However, the PC police nuts have started to make a stink about it. At the recent election, a poll worker in New Hampshire got herself fired for using that phrase. See http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/11/daily-talker-fired-for-god-bless-you/
> 
> Until recent years, it was common usage, and nobody took offense or caused trouble for hoister who said it.


Yes, but I think it is important to this thread to point out that *the poll worker did not say "God bless you!" in response to a sneeze*.
("hoister" )

_Cross-posted_


----------



## Loob

sdgraham said:


> ... One poor girl recently was disciplined in school for saying such a thing when a classmate sneezed.


Like Ws, I'm stunned by this

My tentative "I'd wonder why someone said 'God bless you' after a sneeze" pales into insignificance! 


EDIT: I see that Omega Force is from Mexico, so it may be that advice from speakers of AmE is more important here.


----------



## Glasguensis

I would be stunned if it were true, but it isn't. Unfortunately the school cannot talk about the incident because of the student's right to privacy, so only the student's side was publicized. They have however made it clear that what she was disciplined for was disrupting the class, and not for the specific words she used.


----------



## Language Hound

I would advise people to take anything Fox News reports on with a grain of salt.
They are not exactly known for presenting the whole story.
Although reference is made to "Bless you!" being "godly speaking,"
the assistant principal says: “But I can say there are two sides to every story.
Sometimes people spin things and turn them to make them seem one way...
In this case, this was not a religious issue at all, but more of an issue
the teacher felt was a distraction in her class.”

I can very well imagine all the students in a class (perhaps 20 or 30 students)
each saying "Bless you!" every time someone sneezed.
Especially during hayfever season, that could very well prove
to be a big distraction.

_Cross-posted_


----------



## Loob

Erm... So what do speakers of AmE advise Omega Force to say?


----------



## Language Hound

*Ewie*, I think you're being too hard on yourself.
I think your self-deleted post showed how
inappropriate "God bless you!" is in BE.

For those who may be unaware of the various theories
as to the origin of "God bless you!/Bless you!"
(I was most familiar with the one about the soul
leaving the body during a sneeze),
there is some interesting reading here:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/14404/bless-you-sneezing


----------



## Language Hound

Loob said:


> Erm... So what do speakers of AmE advise Omega Force to say?


Please see my post #2.


----------



## Loob

I see your post 2, LH. But subsequent posts seem to indicate that neither "Bless you" nor "God bless you" is acceptable in AmE as a response to a sneeze. Or am I misunderstanding?


----------



## Language Hound

As far as I'm concerned, the three following responses are all acceptable in AE:
_God bless you!
Bless you!
Gesundheit!_

In recent years, it seems that "God bless you!" has lost ground to "Bless you!"
This may be due to sensitivity to so-called political correctness or just
an inclination to go with the least amount of words possible.


----------



## ewie

Language Hound said:


> *Ewie*, I think you're being too hard on yourself.
> I think your self-deleted post showed how
> inappropriate "God bless you!" is in BE.


 (I can't even remember what I said now!) 

The reason I find _God bless you!_  in response to a sneeze so inappropriate is, in addition to the  somewhat 'evangelical' tone of it, the fact that it's turning what has  become no more than a 'courtesy noise' (like _How do you do_ or _Pardon my French_) back into an ... erm ... meaningful utterance.

If anything, _Bless you!_ in BrE means nothing more than "I forgive you for sneezing on my sandwich but am too polite to say that"

P.S. I've yet to hear a Britishperson saying _Gesundheit!_ without sounding very foolish indeed.


----------



## Wordsmyth

Language Hound said:


> I would advise people to take anything Fox News reports on with a grain of salt.
> They are not exactly known for presenting the whole story. _[...]_


Being a staunch supporter of the idea that you can't believe what you read in the press, I suppose I should have been more cautious before accepting that story verbatim. Maybe Loob and I should only be _potentially_ stunned, pending further evidence.


bennymix said:


> In the US, about one third of people are happily self labeled as 'evangelical'. I'd guess that by now, in Britain they are not rare, _[...]_


 Maybe that statistic (along with another I found: only 16% of the US population declares having no religious affiliation) goes some way to explaining why "God bless you" is more common in the US than in Britain. 

By comparison, in a recent UK government survey 77% of the sample population did not consider themselves religious. In similar surveys, 58% said they _never_ attend religious services (and without weddings, baptisms and funerals that figure would be much higher), and _regular_ church attendance is estimated at about 6% of the population. Perhaps that (combined with ewie's point about meaningful utterances) explains why we find it unusual to hear "God bless you".

Ws


----------



## Loob

Erm .. I think the BrE advice is clear. But I'm still not sure about the AmE advice.


----------



## bennymix

Just for readers who are not American.   Fox News and other far right sources have been ginning up discussion of
how Christians are being persecuted by secularists in the US and by others generally.   Whatever the grain of truth
to this story, the issue of a girl's 'constitutional right' to 'practice her faith' is being contrived and magnified so as to make Christian viewers angry and feel--incorrectly--that they are under siege.   That the tyrannical Muslim, Obama, would ban kids from saying 'Bless You' and get a ban enforced by the thought police is paranoid pipedream.

ADDED: Language Hound, I see, has made a similar point, above.




sdgraham said:


> I have no problem with the above contributions, but "OK"  covers a lot of territory, particularly in the United States where political correctness seems to have run amok.
> 
> One poor girl recently was disciplined in school for saying such a thing when a classmate sneezed.  See HERE
> 
> 
> 
> Just to be clear, _Gesundheit_ is German for "health" and has no religious reference.


----------



## Loob

So what is your advice to the OP, benny?


----------



## bennymix

I think, for AE, outside the deep South, Glasguensis and Wordsmyth in posts 8 and 9, respectively, summed up the situation well.   Commonly people just say--IF anything-- simply "Bless You" so as to avoid the perception of ostentatious practice of religion.


----------



## Loob

Ah, so the recommendation for AmE is the same as that for BrE: say "Bless you", not " God bless you" as a response to a sneeze.


----------



## bennymix

Just so you have a further view of American practice, Loob.

http://www.quakerparrots.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=42458

Jeff, in Yakima, Washington,  posted:



> Kermit [Jeff's quaker parrot] sounds just like my wife sneezing. He will even say "God Bless You" after he imitates your sneeze. It really freaked me out when he said "God Bless You" to himself after he had his own birdie sneeze! ohmy.gif


----------



## Loob

Benny, that last post of yours still leaves me rather lost.

But it seems to me that the bottom line advice to Omega Force is still "Use 'Bless you' after a sneeze".


----------



## Keith Bradford

So, perhaps we could summarise thus:

There are three variants of this expression, of decreasing size and "power":

_God bless you!
Bless you!
Bless!

_Only the first of these is explicitly religious.  Nowhere outside the minds of paranoiacs are the other two seen as in any way religious (any more than _goodbye _is seen as meaning _God be with you_, as it once did).

So I conclude that *Bless you *is entirely appropriate in response to a sneeze, and *Bless *in response to a kind action / cute behaviour by a child.  Certainly that is the situation in Britain.

Does that seem fair?


----------



## Glasguensis

Actually "Bless!" is not a contraction of "God bless you!", but of "God bless him/her!". Obviously the basic idea is similar, but I thought it better to clarify this, because in the cute child scenario you do still also hear "Bless him/her!" (but God is omitted for the same reasons as previously cited). Otherwise I think that's a good summary, Keith.


----------



## bennymix

I don't _recommend_ saying 'Bless you';  my preference is to say nothing.      Perhaps  "Do you need a Kleenex?" if it was a wet one.



Loob said:


> Benny, that last post of yours still leaves me rather lost.
> 
> But it seems to me that the bottom line advice to Omega Force is still "Use 'Bless you' after a sneeze".


----------



## JulianStuart

Sorry I'm late to this thread but do we think "God Bless You", as a set phrase, will ever rise to the level of apparent acceptability to all that has been achieved by "Goodbye"?  What if we start by saying "Good bless you"?  

I grew up with "Bless you" which, for our family, had lost its "religious" origins and was a set phrase.  The reversion to "God bless you" would have sounded somewhat evangelical. As an aside aside, the rejoinder had to be "Amen" - the logic that had generated this versicle and response was the notion that when you sneeze, you lose part of your soul; if you do not reply with "Amen" right away, then the devil will take up residence in the newly vacated space therein.


----------



## MuttQuad

theartichoke said:


> As far as I can tell from the article, the poll worker wasn't saying it to sneezers.
> 
> For what it's worth, I was raised by and around evangelical types, and "Bless you!" after a sneeze was considered something that wasn't done--a kind of taking God's name in vain, if you will.



Our local Duane Reade chain (owned by the giant Walgreen's) requires the cashiers to send you off with a greeting, one of which may be "have a blessed day." When I hear that, I take it that the cashier is wishing me well in her way -- not necessarily mine. People ought to lighten up about this sort of thing, in my view.


----------



## Wordsmyth

JulianStuart said:


> _[..._] do we think "God Bless You", as a set phrase, will ever rise to the level of apparent acceptability to all that has been achieved by "Goodbye"?  What if we start by saying "Good bless you"?_ [...]_


 ... and end up with "Goobley", perhaps.


MuttQuad said:


> _[...] _requires the cashiers to send you off with a greeting, one of which may be "have a blessed day." _[...]_


 Is that "blessed" pronounced as one syllable or two? As two, it might raise a smile among (older) British shoppers, because "blessèd" is one of those euphemistic substitutions used by people who consider "bloody" to be 'strong language' — as in "I've had a blessed awful day today!" 

Ws


----------



## Glasguensis

MuttQuad said:


> Our local Duane Reade chain (owned by the giant Walgreen's) requires the cashiers to send you off with a greeting, one of which may be "have a blessed day." When I hear that, I take it that the cashier is wishing me well in her way -- not necessarily mine. People ought to lighten up about this sort of thing, in my view.


So if the cashier said "May Ra shine upon you", you would think nothing of it? Personally I'd avoid that cashier, and possibly the store.


----------



## Language Hound

Loob said:


> Ah, so the recommendation for AmE is the same as that for BrE: say "Bless you", not " God bless you" as a response to a sneeze.





Loob said:


> But it seems to me that the bottom line advice to Omega Force is still "Use 'Bless you' after a sneeze".


Well, that is not my recommendation or advice unless we are being asked for only *one* response!
  This thread has evolved into a discussion of "God bless you!" versus "Bless you!"
and it is clear that "Gesundheit!" is not used in BE as it is (by many, I might add) in AE.

I know people who do not believe in God who are not at all offended when someone says "God bless you!" to them after they sneeze.
Since "God bless you!" has been a set phrase in AE for longer than I can remember, I think many people just think of it as what you
say when someone sneezes; they don't take it literally.  I don't think I would ever think of "God bless you!" said after a sneeze as
sounding "evangelical," contrary to some of my fellow posters here.

Of course, with the (over)sensitivity to political correctness and the desire to not potentially offend anyone,
"God bless you!" may not be favored by some.  That doesn't mean that it should not be used at all.
Let it be up to the speaker to decide what to say, based on the audience.

My suggestions for AE, given in post #2 and then again in post #26, still stand.
Taking into account comments made in this thread by my fellow AE speakers,
they are, in descending order:
1. _Bless you!_
2. _Gesundheit!_
3. _God bless you!_

Note that I have listed "God bless you!" last.
 For those who are concerned about possibly offending someone or possibly sounding "evangelical,"
I would stick to #1 and #2.


----------



## mplsray

Wordsmyth said:


> (Now _I'm_ stunned, benny!)
> 
> As well as the original incident being ridiculous, it's also sad that the subsequent defence needed to rely on constitutional rights and arguments for religious freedom! The girl didn't even mention "God"; apparently she just said "Bless you". If everyone concerned had bothered to check on the etymology of "bless", they'd have found that it has its origins in words that were independent of religious meaning — and that it has some current uses that are also independent of such connotations.
> 
> Out with the 'sociopoliticians'! Linguists to the fore!
> 
> Ws



A linguist would not argue against "Bless you!" being religious based upon the etymology of the word "bless." That would represent an example of the etymological fallacy. In the incident in question, in any case, the girl was taught to say "Bless you!" as part of her religious training and, according to the girl, the teacher objected to it on the basis that it was "godly speaking." (There were plenty of witnesses, so the truth of that charge should be simple to prove, although it would be harder to show that the vice-principal made a similar objection.)

As far as the law is concerned, it seems to me, the only possible legal action that the girl's family could take against the teacher and the school would be a constitutional one based upon freedom of religion. And a lawyer is now making that very argument.

As for the question asked by the original poster, I don't think it would make any difference at all, if he was in America, whether he said "Bless you!" or "God bless you!"


----------



## mplsray

Re "Have a blessed day!":


Wordsmyth said:


> Is that "blessed" pronounced as one syllable or two? As two, it might raise a smile among (older) British shoppers, because "blessèd" is one of those euphemistic substitutions used by people who consider "bloody" to be 'strong language' — as in "I've had a blessed awful day today!"
> 
> Ws



I know a Lutheran woman who ends her voicemail messages with "Have a blessed day!" She pronounces _blessed _as two syllables.


----------



## Wordsmyth

Language Hound said:


> _[...]_ This thread has evolved into a discussion of "God bless you!" versus "Bless you!" _[...]_
> 
> I know people who do not believe in God who are not at all offended when someone says "God bless you!" to them after they sneeze. _[...]_
> 
> Of course, with the (over)sensitivity to political correctness and the desire to not potentially offend anyone, "God bless you!" may not be favored by some. _[...]_


 Actually the thread started with a discussion of "God bless you!" versus "Bless you!". The OP asked: 





> When someone sneezes we usually say "bless you". But would it be ok to say "God bless you" instead? Or would it be weird?


 Just to be clear on the BrE front (and while I won't presume to speak for my fellow Brits, I suspect they'd agree with this), the reaction of finding "God bless you" a little curious, or at least out of the ordinary, usually has little or nothing to do with being offended or oversensitive to political correctness. On the contrary, it's about the (possibly evangelistic) impression the speaker creates of him/herself.

If someone said "God bless you!" to me, I wouldn't be in the least offended, nor would I consider it politically or socially incorrect. But I might be reluctant to accept an invitation to tea, in case it was served with biscuits and a prayer book!

Ws


----------



## Wordsmyth

mplsray said:


> A linguist would not argue against "Bless you!" being religious based upon the etymology of the word "bless." That would represent an example of the etymological fallacy._ [...] _


 It would if the argument were based _exclusively_ on etymology. However, in the present case I referred to current uses that are independent of religious connotations, and mentioned the etymology as a supporting factor (in case anyone should suggest that the origins were purely religious). As the article you mentioned shows, that's not an etymological fallacy: << "An argument constitutes an etymological fallacy if it makes a claim about the present meaning of a word based exclusively on its etymology. This does not, however, show that etymology is irrelevant in any way, nor does it attempt to prove such." >>


mplsray said:


> _[...] _As far as the law is concerned, it seems to me, the only possible legal action that the girl's family could take against the teacher and the school would be a constitutional one based upon freedom of religion. And a lawyer is now making that very argument._ [...] _


 What a sad world! Maybe everyone should just shake hands and get on with life.

Ws


----------



## WyomingSue

Just to throw a wrench in the works, here in the middle of the U.S. I think "God bless you" is the norm, and "Bless you" sounds rather curt. We did use gesundheit growing up in Wisconsin, but there aren't as many Germans here in Wyoming.


----------



## MuttQuad

>>Is that "blessed" pronounced as one syllable or two? As two, it might  raise a smile among (older) British shoppers, because "blessèd" is one  of those euphemistic substitutions used by people who consider "bloody"  to be 'strong language' — as in "I've had a blessed awful day today!"<<

When they do use that greeting they pronounce blessed with two syllables. That pronunciation has no special significance in AmE. On the other hand, "bloody" doesn't mean anything special here either.


----------

