# Gesundheit



## temujin

hi,
A friend of mine just told me that in German(y) it is totally impolite not to say "Gesundheit" when someone sneezes.
Is this true?
Is it like this in other languages also?


t.


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## smorodina

Etiquette books say that the polite way to react to someone's sneezing is not to react at all. I personally say "bless you" when "my people" are sneezing.
(where is an emoticon for "a sneeze"?)


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## Artrella

Oh, finally somebody who agrees with me!!! I read some time ago that it is impolite to say "Bless you" or "Salud!" or "Gesundheit!" because this comes from old times when in England (I think it was there) there was a kind of epidem*ic*  [Thx Dave!!!  ] and people after sneezing dropped dead.  So people used to say these expressions because of that.
In my particular case I never say "salud!" and some people consider me to be impolite, but then I tell them this story... and they don't believe it!!  
Am I right? I cannot remember where I read this, it was a long time ago!!


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## Artrella

temujin said:
			
		

> hi,
> A friend of mine just told me that in German(y) it is totally unpolite not to say "Gesundheit" when someone sneezes.
> Is this true?
> Is it like this in other languages also?
> 
> 
> t.




Hi TEmujin  !!  it is IMPOLITE, not unpolite


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## dave

We even sometimes say *Gesundheit* in the UK too (one of the few modern German words in English usage - others include doppelganger, schadenfreude and zeitgeist - do excuse my spelling!).

Art:
epidemy --> epidemic


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## VenusEnvy

I understand the title of the thread asks about German culture and language . . . 

I, personally, use "Bless You" and "Salud" often. I say it to family members when they sneeze, friends, strangers, etc. I suppose that because it is a very old tradition (as Art mentioned), this is why I continue to use it.   ::shrugs shoulders:: 

I find comfort in a heartfelt, "Bless you" after I sneeze.






ACHOOO!!!


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## Artrella

*read the last part of this article* Aaaaa...chís!!!


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## Whodunit

Hi, I heard some months ago, recently, it's supposed to be *impolite* to wish "Gesundheit" in Germany. But a while or years ago, it was *polite* to say "Gesundheit". And it's the newest term to say "Entschuldigung (Excuse me)!" if *you* had sneezed.

I also wondered about that but there're several German people who don't know this new "rule".

And as far as I know, you won't be eyed strangely in Germany whatever you say.



			
				dave said:
			
		

> We even sometimes say Gesundheit in the UK too (one of the few modern German words in English usage - others include doppelganger, schadenfreude and zeitgeist - do excuse my spelling!).



It looks funny to see these words lower-cased because they're nouns and nous are usually upper-cased in Germany. How would you form the plurals of such Anglicized words?
doppelganger --> doppelgangers? (in German: der Doppelg*ä*nger --> die Doppelgänger)
schadenfreunde --> schadenfreudes? looks ugly (in German:die Schadenfreude --> die Schadenfreuden)
zeitgeist --> zeitgeists? (in German: der Zeitgeist --> die Zeitgeister)
kindergarten --> kindergartens? (in German: der Kindergarten --> die Kindergärten)

Are the words "(ice)berg" and "fasching" also German loanwords? Do you remember more?



			
				VenusEnvy said:
			
		

> ACHOOO!!!



Bless you! Gesundheit! A tes souhaits! Salud! Salute! ...


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## DDT

"Gesundheit/bless you/salud/salute" is part of those expressions normally "forbidden" by etiquette.
In Italy you might happen to be answered "Pensa alla tua" ("think of yours") when saying "salute" (literally: "health") to someone sneezing...

I don't care that much about etiquette, but I'm not in the habit of saying "bless you" when someone sneezes

DDT


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## Whodunit

DDT said:
			
		

> "Gesundheit/bless you/salud/salute" is part of those expressions normally "forbidden" by etiquette.
> In Italy you might happen to be answered "Pensa alla tua" ("think of yours") when saying "salute" (literally: "health") to someone sneezing...
> 
> I don't care that much about etiquette, but I'm not in the habit of saying "bless you" when someone sneezes
> 
> DDT



I knew "salute" means something like "cheers!", the same as "alla salute", isn't it? But I didn't find another word. Thank you.


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## DDT

whodunit said:
			
		

> I knew "salute" means something like "cheers!", the same as "alla salute", isn't it? But I didn't find another word. Thank you.



That's another use of "salute" corresponding to the English "cheers" when making a toast.
"cheers" can also be rendered as "cin cin", "prosit" (as the German one, originally coming from Latin)

DDT


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## dave

whodunit said:
			
		

> It looks funny to see these words lower-cased because they're nouns and nous are usually upper-cased in Germany. How would you form the plurals of such Anglicized words?
> doppelganger --> doppelgangers? (in German: der Doppelg*ä*nger --> die Doppelgänger)
> schadenfreunde --> schadenfreudes? looks ugly (in German:die Schadenfreude --> die Schadenfreuden)
> zeitgeist --> zeitgeists? (in German: der Zeitgeist --> die Zeitgeister)
> kindergarten --> kindergartens? (in German: der Kindergarten --> die Kindergärten)
> 
> Are the words "(ice)berg" and "fasching" also German loanwords? Do you remember more?



Hi whodunit,

Yes, the plural of *doppelganger * (if there is such a thing!) would be simply *doppelgangers * in English.

However I don't think that *zeitgeist * or *schadenfreude * would ever be used in the plural (though if they were I'm sure they would be spelt just as you have written them).

I've never considered *iceberg * to be a German loan word before (but I know very little about etymology), and I've never heard the word *fasching * - what does it mean?

The only other German words used in English that I can think of relate to either food (*schnitzel*, *sauerkraut * etc.) and the war (*blitzkrieg*, *lebensraum * etc.), as well as a few others that are very specific to German(ic) culture (*leiderhosen*, *edelweiss * etc.). Is *langlauf * a German word?

Dave


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## Ralf

dave said:
			
		

> ... Is *langlauf *a German word?


In fact it is. Langlauf = cross country skiing.

In addition to these German words mentioned in the previous post I recently came across the word "Weltanschauung". But I have no idea about the correct English pronounciation.

Cheers.


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## Whodunit

dave said:
			
		

> Hi whodunit,
> 
> Yes, the plural of doppelganger (if there is such a thing!) would be simply doppelgangers in English.
> 
> However I don't think that zeitgeist or schadenfreude would ever be used in the plural (though if they were I'm sure they would be spelt just as you have written them).
> 
> I've never considered iceberg to be a German loan word before (but I know very little about etymology), and I've never heard the word fasching - what does it mean?
> 
> The only other German words used in English that I can think of relate to either food (schnitzel, sauerkraut etc.) and the war (blitzkrieg, lebensraum etc.), as well as a few others that are very specific to German(ic) culture (leiderhosen, edelweiss etc.). Is langlauf a German word?
> 
> Dave



That's really interesting.

Well, first, you mean "L*e*derhosen", secondly there might be a plural of "Zeitgeist" with -s because my spellchecker doesn't underline it as wrong.
Thirdly, I've never heard an *English* word as "berg" so I considered iceberg as a German loanword "crossbred" with an English word to get the full Anglicism.

And now to the word "fasching": It's carnival, but looking up the German word Fasching to translate my dictionary gives the versions "carnival" _and_ "Fasching".

I want to add some words to war "Nazi" and to culinary art "wiener".

I would like to know where does the word "loudspeaker" come from? In German "Lautsprecher (laut = loud; Sprecher = speaker)", in French "haut-parleur (haut = loud; parleur = speaker)"; Italian (altoparlante) and Spanish (altavoz) is an exception.

Regards.


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## Annabel Lee

my german friends always said gesundheit, so i don't think it is impolite... do you know that the tradition of shaking hands emerged because reaching out the hand, primeval people showed they didn't have weapons and were friendly? now you don't have to demonstrate you don't have weapons, still it's a nice tradition. there's no plague around, still you can say bless you as a nice tradition!


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## alc112

Art. Maybe this is what you were talking about:
http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.htm
Saludos


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## te gato

Here in Alberta we say:

Bless you  
Or if they are family or friends:
EWWWW DON"T SPRAY!!! 

te gato


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## gaer

Artrella said:
			
		

> In my particular case I never say "salud!" and some people consider me to be impolite, but then I tell them this story... and they don't believe it!!
> Am I right? I cannot remember where I read this, it was a long time ago!!


I agree with you. I find it annoying, especially if I sneeze several times and here the same thing repeated over and over again. It becomes a joke.

But for those who DO reply with something like "bless you", etc., "Gesundheit" is not only the correct response but one I always heard in my own family, which strangely spoke no German.


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## davejensen

Es macht nichts,  die deutschen selbst haben keine Bedeutung dafuer... 
dont pay so much attention to the meaning behind german words... like english , its just a tool on comms.. 

dave


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## LanceKitty

In Islam, we say *Alhamdullilah* (Praise be to Allah) when we sneeze. It is because we are releasing viruses from our body orally (arguably violently ) and should be thankful for that. It's just a bystander's bad luck if they take in the virus we have just released... (and end up sneezing as well... )

The reply to a person who has sneezed and said "Alhamdullilah" is "*Yarhamak Allah*" (correct my transliteration please  )


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## Amityville

gaer said:
			
		

> I agree with you. I find it annoying, especially if I sneeze several times and here the same thing repeated over and over again. It becomes a joke.


 
And more annoying if you are expected to say "thankyou" for the "bless you" after each sneeze, there's quite a timing problem.


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## Isotta

This came up in conversation recently with a French person I know whose variation on the French sneeze reaction theory is as follows:

*Sneeze one* => no reaction
*Sneeze two* => you say "à tes souhaits," ("to your hopes") because the fact that the person has sneezed for the second time means you can no longer ignore it
*Sneeze three *=> you say "à tes amours" ("to your loves")
*Sneeze four* => you say "qu'elles durent toujours" ("that they last forever")

Thus one must sneeze four times to get the full treatment, as opposed to the usual three.

If it is impolite to react to another's sneeze, would it then be improper to use table sweepers at dinner?

Isotta.


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## Cristmarsal

I have heard in USA that when you sneeze your soul goes out of your body... so, when someone bless you, your soul come back (I use to say bless me if I´m alone, after heard that)
In spain, you say JESUS, or AL CIELITO, or AL CIELITO CUANDO SEAS VIEJITO or SALUD.
when you sneeze one: salud
sneeze two: dinero
sneeze three: amor
If sneeze four, you will not die today
(I have not die yet just because I´m  photosensitive, lmao)


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## Isotta

I have also just learned from other French sources that it is terribly impolite to begin the sneeze etiquette series one sneeze late!

Chaos!

Isotta.


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## Outsider

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Are the words "(ice)berg" and "fasching" also German loanwords?


According to dictionary.com and the Online Etymology Dictionary, "iceberg" is derived from Dutch _ijsberg_. However, the Merriam-Webster online says it probably comes from Danish or Norwegian _isberg_.


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## Nath0811

Well... I say "A tes souhaits" or "Labriout" (Hebrew) to family and friends, unless in the middle of a conversation with someone, that person sneezes - then I'll say it too.

Otherwise, I don't say it to persons I don't know in public places. It makes me cringe when strangers tell me "Bless you" on the train- especially if it's more than once! It means I have to ackowledge them and say thank you, when really, all I wanted is the world to ignore that I just sneezed!!


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## Isotta

I see. Thus do table sweepers annoy you? Does it bother you that the waiter has acknowledged that you have scattered crumbs on the table? I can't help but feel the two are attached.

Isotta.


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## Nath0811

Isotta said:
			
		

> I see. Thus do table sweepers annoy you? Does it bother you that the waiter has acknowledged that you have scattered crumbs on the table? I can't help but feel the two are attached.
> 
> Isotta.


 
That's kind of harsh.    At the restaurant you're going to be served, you pay for your table to be sweeped and your crumbs to be collected


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