This week we look at the way religious terminology is pervasive in our language and how we deal with that as atheists. Phrases like “bless you” are considered polite and yet they assume something about the belief of the person saying and receiving the statement. We also find ourselves looking at saying “Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays.” As a non believer, do we try to edit these words and phrases from our vocabulary or do we just ignore it?
Thought I would share something interesting about “Bless You”. My mother, who is very Roman Catholic, refuses to say “Bless You” because only the priests are allowed to bless.
In our family we say “G-sneeze you!” because it’s silly and the 2 year old likes it.
Ha, I like this one.
Oh hey, look, wikipedia FTW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responses_to_sneezing
I think I’m going to go with Danish and say “Prosit” because that sounds awesome. And my boss is from Denmark.
For those who are interested in the source for the term “heebie-jeebies” see
http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=28;t=000942;p=1
I have heard Chris “Nerdist” Hardwick say “SCIENCE!” after someone sneezes.
What I say when someone sneezes: politely ignore it. I’ve always considered it an obnoxious and rude custom to draw attention to it when someone makes an involuntary noise.
That should have been “what I do….” Arggg to the lack of an edit option on comments.
This is really late, but I recently started listening to this podcast again. When one of us sneezes, my wife and I say “Plus one to attack and save against fear,” based on the Bless spell from Dungeons and Dragons.