When Someone Sneezes, Do You Say "God Bless You" or Gesundheit?

I say God bless you, or bless you, and now and then; gesundheit.'

If I'm the sneezer, I always ask pardon or excuse me and thank anyone nice enough to have wished me good health or offer a blessing. That's just the way I was raised.
 

I say "Bless you" because I feel God makes it too religious sounding and I don't know everyone I'm saying it to when they sneeze.

I always get a "thank you" and do it because it's a polite and friendly gesture...always say "please" and "thank you" too. The way I also was raised.
 
Does this mean saying something if anyone in public sneezes? If I'm standing in line with someone or otherwise nearby, I might say "Bless You". But normally, with a stranger at a distance or passing by me, I don't say anything. With a friend, it depends. I won't tell my atheist friend anything but oh, are you catching cold?

Another thing is I never sneeze in public. I will stifle myself and would be horribly embarrassed to wet my surroundings or even my hand, where I'm then going to touch other things. I think anyone can feel a sneeze coming and can do the same. However, at home, sneezing feels really good and I let loose. :eek:nthego:
 
I was raised that way, too, just like RR and CC mentioned, and I will say God Bless You, or at least two of those words.
When someone says that to me, I always say thank you to them for the blessing as well, and it does make me feel good when someone one cares enough to say God bless, or bless you.

Sneezes do not always mean that someone is sick, so unless I can see other signs that the person is fighting a cold, then I just assume that it is a sneeze, and never worry about getting sick from it.
Actually, even if the person has a cold, I seldom am concerned about catching it from them; but I still try to stay away from being too close if they are sneezing in my direction.
 
I think it's just something to break the awkward silence that follows. I never say anything.
 

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