this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
436 points (96.2% liked)
Asklemmy
54461 readers
551 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is the first time I translated "bless you". I never knew it was something religious. In german we simply say "health" (Gesundheit) when someone sneezes.
That's interesting. In spanish, we also say "health" (Salud). I wasn't expecting it to be the same in a language as different as german.
The "religious" word we can say when someone sneezes is "Jesus" (JesΓΊs). Which is also a weird thing to say. I'm pretty sure the origin is still christianism, but I can't see why someone chose specifically that.
I say Gesundheit here in Australia like its muscle memory anytime anyone sneezes. My girlfriend hates it but its ingrained in me, I have no idea why. Its just a funny word
Its a hold over from the plague I think, plus general religiousnous in the past. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/14/why-do-we-say-bless-you-notes-queries
I say the same despite only speaking English because I once read it was less like blessing someone and more like saying "keep your demons to yourself." I now believe that is inaccurate, but it does make for a story.