I Gless You My Child.

August 12th, 2009
Aug12
Submitted By
  • Kate
  • Duluth, MN
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Kate from Duluth writes:

Does sneezing let some God out of us? Is it a sin?

I would answer 'no' to both of those questions, so why do we say 'bless you'?
I never wondered this until I was about seven, because up until that point 'bless you' isn't what I thought was being said.

So here's the story...

When I was about seven I was sitting in my parents' room while my mom was getting dressed to go to work. It happened to be allergy season, and my mom just happened to sneeze. Like I had been doing since I could talk I said 'gless you' and just continued with looking around being a curious little girl and that's when I got the unfortunate news.

I still don't understand why you would bless someone when they sneeze, but that's how life goes I guess... That was just one story from when I used to be stupid.

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5 Responses to I Gless You My Child.

  1. Natalie Marx August 13, 2009 at 10:17 am | Permalink | Reply

    Long story short, according to popular legend, back in Medieval times, it was thought that you could expel a portion of your soul by sneezing. 'God Bless You' became popular as the blessor thought that they were offering God's protection to the blessee and safeguarding their soul.

    I rather like gless you! A contraction, of sorts. :)

  2. K. Praslowicz August 13, 2009 at 11:48 am | Permalink | Reply

    Yay. I learned something new!

  3. Mike September 3, 2009 at 1:40 pm | Permalink | Reply

    "bless you" stems back to the old days of the black plague, when everyone was dying. When someone would sneeze they assumed that they had the plague so they would "bless you" because you would soon be dead. That other guy is wrong. lol

  4. Qok September 10, 2009 at 8:33 am | Permalink | Reply

    Mike is correct, every British kid learns that at infants school. The funny thing is, I don't remember Google being offline at all recently.

    I guess that means Kate/Natalie are still stupid.

  5. John May 9, 2010 at 10:20 am | Permalink | Reply

    http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.asp

    Considering the act has existed since 77 AD in recorded writings, the fact that it stemmed specifically from The Black Plague is an inaccuracy at best.

    Funny, I don't remember Google being offline at all recently, guess that means people shouldn't call people stupid based on their own FALSE assumptions.

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