Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 12:57:14 +0100

From: Aaron Drews aaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LING.ED.AC.UK

Subject: Sneeze



On Wed, 22 Oct 1997, barbara wrote:



}

}And while I'm at it, doesn't saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes go back to

}the Black Death and sneezing as a symptom of plague? Remember that lovely bit

}of dialogue from _The Lady's Not for Burning_, said by the priest (abbot, friar

}whoever) just as he exits, "God bless you in case you sneeze." "Thank you. I

}may." Talk about preventive medicine! (Actually, this relationship just

}dawned on me after I'd been talking to a class about the nursery rhyme "Ring

}Around a-Rosy" and its imitation of the plague-stricken.)



I thought it was because your spirit left you when you sneezed,

leaving you vulnerable to the devil. Well, back around the Plague era,

anyway.

Aaron





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Aaron E. Drews http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron

Ph.D. Candidate +44 (0)131 650-3485

The University of Edinburgh fax: +44 (0)131 650-3962

Departments of Linguistics and English Language