Date:  Fri, 31 Oct 1997 15:50:12 EST
From:  Monkmag <Monkmag[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Sneeze

In a message dated 10/24/97 4:26:49 AM, you 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>>

Both seem quite plausible, and very instructive. Thankyou.

Monk