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.