I have a chronic sneezer sitting next to me. Every single solitary day, at least once an hour she sneezes.............oh I dunno...............about 12 or 15 times in a row. The man next to her answers each and every flippin' sneeze with a God bless you. I usually say it three times and then I'm good. Sometimes I even say "Ok that's enough!!!!", though I do it jokingly.

How bout you ? What's your sneeze tolerance?

I don't say GBU. I say STFU instead.

and i add..wipe that sh!t off your face....

I'm fairly certain that a single GBY extends throughout the entire sneeze sequence.

I say it every time but umm I just read your post and must say if I had someone sitting next to me who regularly sneezes 12-15 times in a row I don't think i'd continue doing it. Probably joke around like you do. Or mention Claritin-D.

I'm not religious so I assume it's just something that must have been deeply embed in my psyche as a small child! Maybe that's the case for the guy next to her too.

I've heard before that people tend to have a pattern in sneezing. 1-2-3-4 times... but 12-15?

"And Moses asked, 'Lord, how many times should a man be blessed if he shall allow a sneeze to be emitted from his nostrils?' And the Lord did reply, 'If the man is repentant for his sneeze and the mucus he releases and is pure in heart and has no desire in his loins to lie down with another man, then he shall be blessed a hundredfold. But if a woman sneezes in my house she will be ignored.' And Moses said, 'Thanks. That was bothering me a bit.' "

Exodus 14:5

Amen, Steve. Amen.

I never used to say it. Then I dated a man (atheist, too) who would actually get angry if I didn't say it. So now I say it, but just the once.

I only sneeze in 3s or 4s so I wait a little while to see if the person is going to sneeze multiple times or not.

I don't say anything. I never understood any reason to do so. It's just a sneeze!

once

I say "Prosit" and only once.

I don't say anything. I'm not one who believes that the person sneezing is infested with evil spirits, therefore there is no reason to say GBY. Not that I would anyway. I'm more likely to punch them in the face for annoying me.

I HATE it when people say "Bless you", "God Bless You", or "Gesundheit". I very strongly wish to rip their throat out through their neck when they say stupid sh!t like that.

But can you tell us how you really feel?

i say "allah - praise be upon him - bless you"

And then do you go 'lalalalallalala'

to the two of ya!

I usually say GBY when people sneeze, and I'd say if they were sneezing a bunch of times then 3 times would be my limit. HOWEVER, if someone was sneezing 12-15 times PER day I wouldn't say anything unless it was to tell them to check if they have allergies.

Gesundheit

I read in a magazine that the new etiquette is, that the sneezing person has to apologise for sneezing, instead the other person saying "Bless you".

Oh that is sooooo not what Exodus 14: 5 says.

I find it really weird americans apologizing for stuff like sneezing or coughing. What's there to apologize for? You have no control on that. It's not like farting that you can hold, you know?

i've yet to figure out how to hold a fart, they are kinda difficult to grab......

Stop lying...
you're not supposed to hold in farts, are you?
[insert sniffing smiley here]

yes you hold in your farts in public

I refuse to apologize for any natural uncontrollable bodily function! That includes farting. I do it quietly in public and then make "wide eyes" at the closest person to me.

I forgot the fact that she honks her nose for a good 6 to 7 times after said sneezing. It's loud too the whole office hears it. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK.

She DOES have allergies...to all 8 of her cats!!!! She refuses to give them up and has been living like this for years!!!!!! Her eyes are constantly puffy red and so is her nose. I'm sorry but no pet is worth that aggravation!!!

Bless you Rocinate!

for added fun, while out shopping - wander over by the women's lingerie and leave it there

Wow. I didn't even know that.

I usually say bless you.

Actually, the term "bless you" came from the time of the plague in the UK. A sneeze was a sign of potentially having the plague and people would say "bless you" in the hopes that you wouldn't be infected (or die).

Over the years its meaning seems to have changed (mainly because the plague is no longer a common disease) but that is where it originates from.

Same for the childhood rhyme "ring o roses" - that's thought to be about the plague as well. "Ring of roses" indicates the rash, the "a tishoo a tishoo" is in reference to the fact that sneezing indicated the next stage and then "we all fall down" means you died shortly afterwards.

/end of lesson.

Ring a-ring o' roses,
A pocketful of posies.
a-tishoo!, a-tishoo!.
We all fall down.

Of course, in Indiana we were taught....

Ring around the Rosey
Pocket full of Posies
Ashes, ashes
We all fall down.

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ring_around_the_rosy.htm

It differs from country to country.

Canada:

Ring around the rosey,
A pocket full of posies.
Hush-a, hush-a.
We all fall down

Ireland:

Ring a ring o' rosies,
A pocketful of posies.
EE-sha, AA-sha.
We all fall down.

Louisiana:

Ring around the rosey,
Pocket full of posies.
Upstairs, downstairs.
We all fall down.

Other verses:

The King has sent his daughter,
To fetch a pail of water.
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all fall down.

The bird up on the steeple,
Sits high above the people.
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all fall down.

The cows are in the meadow,
Eating buttercups,
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
they all jump up.

Fishes in the water,
Fishes in the sea,
We all jump up,
With a one, two, three!

Sitting at the bottom of the deep blue sea,
Catching fishes, for my tea!
We all jump up,
With a one, two, three!

Cows are in the clover,
Eating buttercups,
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all jump up!

Cows are in the meadow,
Eating all the grass,
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.

Who's up last?
Bringing up the posies,
We all pop up!

The cows are in the pasture,
Sleeping, Sleeping,
Lightning, Lightning.
We all jump up!

Mammy in the teapot,
Daddy in the cup.
One, two, three
And we all jump up!

Interestingly enough, I grew up in a house of atheists and when you sneeze you ALWAYS say "bless you!" If you sneeze and don't say it...it feels wrong. It was never said as a religious blessing, it was just habit, passed on down through many generations of my family (all non religious).

However, it does always come out as a "bleshhoo!" sound, rather than a "bless...you"

And no, Platy has never tried to rip out my throat when I've said that either.