"Bless You"

[webny99]

Interestingly, "Gesundheit" is actually the only word I know in German, probably since it is so common to hear after sneezes.

I used to have a teacher that said "Gesundheit", and I came to really like it. It sounds like an expression you'd use when you're surprised or scared, almost like "goodness gracious". So it seems more like poking fun than wishing blessing, which is arguably preferable anyways with your friends and family. 

[texaskdog]

Interestingly, "Gesundheit" is actually the only word I know in German, probably since it is so common to hear after sneezes.

I used to have a teacher that said "Gesundheit", and I came to really like it. It sounds like an expression you'd use when you're surprised or scared, almost like "goodness gracious". So it seems more like poking fun than wishing blessing, which is arguably preferable anyways with your friends and family. 

It sounds like something someone would yell at you when they were mad.

[kphoger]

It sounds like something someone would yell at you when they were mad.

That's just because it's German.

I knew a guy from Poland who described the German language as being like "barking through a sheet".

[Scott5114]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that in the 19th century, German was culturally seen as a beautiful, poetic language. Stuff was perceived to just sound better in German.

During the mid-20th century, that perception got attached to French, and German was seen as a harsh, angry-sounding language. Can't imagine what happened in the 20th century to cause that shift in perception...

[GaryV]

"German is a guttural language.  Dutch is a throat disease."

[kphoger]

Neither me or my wife are religious, so we don't say "bless you" to a sneeze. Most often we don't acknowledge it at all, other than perhaps an "are you all right?" on a multiple-sneeze occurrence.

Well, I am religious, but I've never thought of saying 'Bless you' after a sneeze to be an actual religious benediction.  I guess, to me, religiosity and saying 'Bless you' after a sneeze don't really correlate.

I don't imagine most religious people do, or at least don't intend for it to be an actual direct request for their deity to intervene. We just kind of had a conversation one day about how unusual saying the phrase "bless you" was when the person both saying and receiving it don't believe there to be a rational being with the ability to issue a blessing to begin with.  We kind of searched around for a suitable secular substitute, and, finding none, just kind of stopped the practice.

I was reading an old FoxTrot book today, ran across this one, and thought of you.  Maybe you and your wife now have a "suitable secular substitute".

[Scott5114]

I'm not sure if I'll adopt it myself, but I have a feeling my wife will love it.

[Takumi]

"German is a guttural language.  Dutch is a throat disease."

A friend of mine recently described Dutch as “mutant English”. My girlfriend is a native Afrikaans speaker, and the same friend described Afrikaans as “mutant English but even easier”. When she speaks Afrikaans I can understand a good chunk of what she’s saying. The G sound, though. It’s everywhere in that language.

[1995hoo]

This thread is making me recall a high school teacher who, when someone sneezed, would comment to the person in front of the sneezer: "Wow, that's a nice polka-dotted sweater you're wearing today" or something along those lines.

[Dirt Roads]

"...Dutch is a throat disease."

That statement is common in Holland.  I worked on several projects in Holland and eventually got to bring my wife over for a week.  On a canal tour in Amsterdam, the tour guide started off the trip with very same statement.  It helped me with Dutch pronunciation, as you need to project the gutteral G sound as if you are hocking up a goober.  The famous painter Van Gogh is properly pronounced "van gghockk".  Gargle a while you are saying that.

Back to the topic, getting that Dutch gutteral sound was quite important when greeting someone:  goedemorgen and goedenavond don't sound quite right if you say "good", but it doesn't sound very nice when you cough up a "ggghoot".  But it is very kind.