Ah, rat; by far the best pearls character. Or, rather, the one to whom I most often relate. My wife sneezes a lot (upwards of 10 times per episode, many times having several episodes in small amount of time). So awhile back I decided to stop saying "God bless you" and have since extended the non-gesture to everyone else. I'm all for tradition but prefer to strip out any pointlessnesses I encounter. I am much happier because of it. Although, I just might start saying Chuck Norris...
My family says 'bless you' and 'gesundheit' but one that we sometimes use is 'scat cat', I think we started that when my kid brother and I where little.
9toes: Buford is dong a great job with Scary Gary. And he really appreciates commentary from us common folk. 'Tho Mark is as common folk as they get. Now I'm off to MONTY and the little brat Sedgewick Nuttingham. Onward!
Another theory about "God bless you" was that in the Middle Ages, since a sneeze was the life-breath rushing out of the body, they were afraid that a person who sneezed was dying, losing the Spirit, and had to be restored with a blessing. It made sense in that culture, but a few changes have come along to obscure the meaning of the habit. Like plenty of other long-standing habits and rituals: the blessing of Goodbye, the reason that (in the West) skirts are for women and pants more masculine, except in formal robes (academic and judicial) or traditional garb (kilts), the reason we mount horses from the left side of the horse, the reason railroads have a 4'8 1/2" gauge, and so on.
