To not respond when people say “bless you”

[OswaldOwl]

I just watched one of those ‘English etiquette guide for foreign visitors’ videos and it mentioned always say thank you when somebody says ‘bless you’ when you sneeze.

I don’t do this 😬 Thinking back to my childhood, the belief on the school yard was that saying thank you ‘cancelled’ the good luck of ‘bless you’. Obviously that is ridiculous but it might explain why it didn’t develop as an automatic habit, though clearly I should have picked this up since.

I think I might mutter a ‘sorry’ after a sneeze, maybe a thank you if the bless you comes from a stranger, but by and large I don’t respond.
Clearly I have been a rude sneezer for the last 37 years!! How unreasonable / rude have I been?
I like to think I am polite in my other interactions

I was told asa child that saying thank you was bad luck, and it stuck I never really know what to say but I'll go with thank you from now on

@BluebellsGreenbells

See it’s true!

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons

I always say amen - habit from childhood as it was always said if you said thank you to a sneeze bless you a fairy would die

I was told the opposite of this - if you didn't say thank you, a fairy would die!

I think it's more rude to go around blessing people who haven't asked for it.

I say it automatically:

'Bless y..'
'Thank you!' I say it so fast I cut them off mid blessing

Saying "Bless You" dates back to times of The Black Death and then The Plague, if someone sneezed it was thought to protect you from these dreadful illnesses.

I always say bless you and I always say thank you.

I find the whole idea of blessing me weird. I think it's from like plague times? So it's like OMG you're going to die because you sneezed id better ask God to protect you.

I think it’s rude to say “bless you”

Err, no thanks, bless yourself if you like but I just sneezed. It’s not a sacrament. I can excuse myself if I wish to, just like if I cough. Blessings aren’t required.

My DD always says "honey, I'm already blessed" in an American drawl (not sure if she'd say it to a stranger though )

Where I grew up we never said "bless you". The first time someone said it to me after sneezing I think I said "excuse me??" as it made no sense.

I've never been told that one should say thank you or that saying that kills fairies.

I've always said thank you and I'd think someone was rude if they didn't

My DD always says "honey, I'm already blessed" in an American drawl

^

Can I please borrow this?

DH always says 'no need, I'm already blessed'. I'd stop blessing him (honestly I don't even believe in blessings), but it's an ingrained habit and I do it automatically.

I always say 'thank you'. And if someone thanks me I always say 'you're welcome'.

Yeh saying thank you does kill a fairy, and I’m not in the business of killing those little things so you ain’t getting a thank you out of me!

Saying thank you implies that you need it

*My DD always says "honey, I'm already blessed" in an American drawl

^

Can I please borrow this?*

Of course! I think she originally stole it from the class clown - a boy who said it in a camp American drawl.

I always say thank you.

I never know what to say when people say ‘excuse me’ after sneezing.

It's all a bit ahem...anal really. Good manners and responses are instinctive, not something some toff tells you to do or not to do.

I always say thanks, in a shop, at the doctors, when someone says Bless You, if fact anywhere anyone is just well...nice.

It is ridiculous to fret over this. But I suppose some want to be seen as Upper Class and follow their so called rules or something. Hilarious how rule driven some can be.

I say "bless you me" after I sneeze, no need to thank myself, all the fairies are safe

I say thank you now I’m older but as PP said we never did as children because of killing the fairies!

Someone on MN once said that if you push the bridge between your nose and upper lip when you feel a sneeze coming on it stops the sneeze. I thought absolutely no way that will work. Tried it twice now and it’s worked both times 🤣

I've always said thankyou. But then I've been known to thank ATMs.

@op I hate to tell you this but YABU, the only correct response to "bless you" is to stand up, throw your arms out wide and in your best Brian Blessed voice scream "I AM HEALED BY THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY!". Either that or a "thank you" said sheepishly is acceptable. Anyone saying you will kill fairies has no idea how resilient, violent, and well-armed the fairies actually are. Stay on your guard, people.

the only correct response to "bless you" is to stand up, throw your arms out wide and in your best Brian Blessed voice scream "I AM HEALED BY THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY!".

😂😂😂

Am I the only one who finds it irritating? 🤔😄 I find it patronising and cringe whenever someone says it. It’s my sneeze, I don’t need your comment thank you!