Someone sneezes across the room and, almost before you think about it, out pops "bless you." It's one of the most automatic bits of politeness we have, and skipping it can feel oddly rude. But why do we bless a sneeze at all, instead of a cough or a hiccup? The answer is a tangle of ancient habits, old fears and surprisingly durable etiquette.
References to responding to sneezes go back nearly two thousand years, to around 77 C.E. In the ancient world, a sneeze was often considered a sign of good health, so Greeks and Romans greeted one with cheerful wishes along the lines of "live long" or "may Jupiter bless you." Over time, as sneezing came to be associated with illness during waves of plague, the phrase took on a more protective tone, a little verbal shield for the sneezer.
Hearts, spirits and good manners
Other explanations are pure folklore. One long-standing myth claimed your heart briefly stopped mid-sneeze, so a blessing either helped it start again or congratulated you on surviving. Another held that a sneeze could let spirits slip out of the body, or let unwelcome ones in, and a quick blessing kept everything in its proper place. Neither is true, of course, but both made memorable stories.
Today the custom survives mostly as kindness. Even etiquette authority Miss Manners has weighed in, suggesting it's ruder for the people nearby to skip the "bless you" than for the sneezer to forget "excuse me." So go ahead and keep saying it. It's a tiny, friendly ritual with a very long history behind it.
Source: Mental Floss
