Date:  Fri, 24 Oct 1997 18:23:57 EDT
From:  Julia Cochran <COCPROFS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: hello/good-bye

On Fri, 24 Oct 1997 12:35:38 -0400 Ron Butters said:

>I don't agree. "Bless you!" as conversational opener is pretty rare--the
>idea of waiting around for strangers to sneeze before talking to them is
>pretty ludicrous.

Of course it is. Conversational openers hadn't really occurred to me. I was
thinking more of an excuse to make contact and acknowledge another human being.
For those so inclined, sneezing provides only one of many such opportunities
-- other such situations abound as well.


>happen, as with a dropped package--but conversation-initiation is incidental,
>not functional.