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Atheist "God Bless You" (The Guardian) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Minlawc Newbie United States Joined 6327 days ago 24 posts - 56 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 9 of 33 28 September 2012 at 11:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm more interest in where I got the pronunciation "Blush you!" for "Bless you!". It's the way I always said, and heard it. This and the origin of "Crown" for "Crayon" baffle me. Because I KNOW other people say it this way.
Sorry a little off topic. Edited by Minlawc on 28 September 2012 at 11:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5362 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 10 of 33 28 September 2012 at 11:36pm | IP Logged | ||
I think it's a Western thing, actually. I'm told there's no Chinese equivalent of "bless you", and there is no expectation that you verbally respond to people's sneezes in Chinese culture any more than you would respond to a cough or a burp. It's always struck me as a rather silly and arbitrary cultural phenomenon. However, I'm an atheist and I don't shy away from saying "bless you" after someone sneezes in a formal setting. It's just one of those phrases, like "good-bye" (originally "God be with ye") and "oh my God", which have religious origins but have lost any significant religious meaning. When people use those expressions, they're not actually referencing the deity of monotheistic religions, thus I don't see a good reason to avoid them. So in formal situations, I say "bless you" (no one has ever taken that to mean that I have recanted my atheism), and in informal situations, if I say anything I rate the sneeze on a scale from 1 to 10 (it's equally arbitrary, but more fun). Edited by Levi on 28 September 2012 at 11:45pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5627 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 11 of 33 29 September 2012 at 12:09am | IP Logged | ||
That stinks? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4502 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 12 of 33 29 September 2012 at 12:37am | IP Logged | ||
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I can answer your question, Peregrinus: we would cover our noses. Because it's smelly.
And make some token comment about that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Presidio Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4376 days ago 39 posts - 150 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, German Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Gulf) | Message 13 of 33 29 September 2012 at 7:52am | IP Logged | ||
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I feel sorry for Atheists.
No one to talk to during sex. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5561 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 14 of 33 29 September 2012 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | ||
Because in some societies, it's used as a way of showing that you 'care' for another person, or rather that you don't completely ignore them. In German I perceive the "Gesundheit!" as a feedback "I know you aren't completely healthy and I'll look out for you a bit but I hope you don't get sick, really." It doesn't matter if there's a superstition behind it. On the other hand, I cringe when people greet me "Grüss Gott!" because I have this in-built mirror response for greetings, but am atheist. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6377 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 15 of 33 29 September 2012 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Hong Kong response, at least that of my girlfriend, is "Take care". But anyway, I think that anyone who thinks atheists can't say "bless you" when someone sneezes has a very weird view of atheism.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6663 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 16 of 33 29 September 2012 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||
There have been some heated discussions here about people being very much against using religious language. I don't remember how it went, but look for the topic about "Act of God/ Force Majeure". 1 person has voted this message useful |
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