God Bless You

For us cold-sufferers...

"The Christian expression 'God bless you'... began by papal fiat in the sixth century, during the reign of Pope Gregory the Great. A virulent pestilence raged throughout Italy, one foreboding symptom being severe, chronic sneezing. So deadly was the plague that people died shortly after manifesting its symptoms; thus, sneezing became synonymous with imminent death. "Pope Gregory beseeched the healthy to pray for the sick. He also ordered that such well-intended though leisurely phrases as 'May you enjoy good health' be replaced with his own more urgent and pointed invocation, 'God bless you!" And if no well-wisher was around to invoke the blessing, the sneezer was advised to exclaim aloud, 'God help me!' "Pope Gregory's post-sneeze supplications spread throughout Eu­rope, hand in hand with the plague, and the seriousness with which a sneeze was regarded was captured in a new expression, which sur­vives to this day: 'Not to be sneezed at.'" -Chuck's Fun blog