Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 02:05:28 EDT

From: Julia Cochran COCPROFS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU

Subject: Re: Your mail



On Thu, 23 Oct 1997 19:13:17 EDT Michael Montgomery said:



By the way, Ron, "Bless you" is not a prayer, the distinctive features

of the latter being that it is phrased in second person (often with a

vocative) and addressed directly to a deity. "Bless you" does not have

these characteristics, so far as I can discern.



You're right...it's subjunctive, with (ahem, the alleged) God in the third

person and "May" deleted but presumably, at one time, understood.