h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Worldwide terms for the sneeze sound and responds to sneezing - A1099721
Author: A Perfectly Normal Beast - U168701

Hello.
I'm writing this entry about the different terms people use to describe the sound of sneezing in different languages and how people respond to sneezing. I need people from all around the world to tell me what they call it in their language, so please write to me about it.

Sweden:

The sound: Atjo! or even Atjooo! if it's a big one (tj is pronounced like ch in 'rich')

The response: Prosit!

It may be worth noting that geshundeit is actually a German word.

Well, at least it is if you spell it 'Gesundheit'...

Hmphh. Okay, so I can't spell for toffee. Or even spell toffee, some days

Hiya,

er, i put some comments in the other thread, thinking that would be the one to put input on the various different languages.

In French they say 'Atchoum' followed by 'A vos/tes souhaits'.

voila

and then i had a few comments on atchoo vs atishoo...

viel glueck
spiff

Thank you everyone for your participation!

You can check out the entry and see that I've added Swedish and French and also a footnote about 'Gesundheit'.

I have one request: When informing me of a new term please indicate the correct pronounciation as our good mate Titania had done.

So can someone please tell me how do you pronounce 'atishoo', 'Atchoum','A vos' and 'tes souhaits'?

Thanks again for your help

In French: 'Atchoum' is pronounced 'Atchoom'. And you answer either 'à tes souhaits' or 'à vos souhaits', depending on how familiar you are with the sneezer. It is said that if someone sneezes for a second time just after you've told him 'à tes souhaits', you say 'à tes amours'.

I think you spell 'Gesundheit' with an 's', and you can also say 'bless you' in English.

German sneeze saying 'Atchi' (pronounced 'atchee') and are (quite naturally) answered 'Gesundheit'.

Actually, the German sneeze is 'hatschi' (pron. 'ha-chee' where the 'ch' is the same as in 'rich'). The response is of course 'Gesundheit' and I gather this has also made its way into American usage.

If you really want to mock up the sneezer, you might also respond by asking into the group: 'jemand verletzt oder verschüttet?' ('anybody injured or buried under debris?) which implies that the sneezer caused damage to the building



Bossel

( for misspelling hatschi though)

Thank you all again for your help.

I've added all the new info from Toy Box and Bossel to the entry (thanks guys! )
I still need someone to tell me how to pronounce the following:
- atisshoo
- Gesundheit (English pronounciation and the German one)
- à tes souhaits
- à vos souhaits
- à tes amours
- jemand verletzt oder verschüttet?
- Prosit

Keep me posted

'Gesundheit', both English and German:
Ge'zoond-hait - where the 'oo' is like 'hood' and is likewise short but has the emphasis (indicated by the ' mark).

'jemand verletzt oder verschüttet'
there's a slight problem with the 'ü' as there's no equivalent and the average native English can't pronounce it Say 'iiiii' as in 'siiiinging' and then, without changing your chin & tongue's position, change your lips into the or shape which is also used when pronouncing an 'o'. Make sure to be in company of Germans so they've got something to cheer them up

The rest should be easy:
yaemund fer'letst oder fer'shüttet?


Bossel

'à vos souhaits' - avoswai, with "a" like in "pal", and "ai" like in "mermaid".

'à tes souhaits' - ateswai.

'à tes amours' - atezamoor.

Thanks a lot Bossel and Toy Box.

By the way, if I haven't mentioned it before, (and a quick look through the conversation's posts shows I haven't) everyone who contributes to this entry will be credited for it, so keep up the posts and you'll have world-wide glory!

Hello everyone

I'm on a trip to another piece of space and time, so I won't be updating this entry until I return at September 15th.

See you later
A Perfectly Normal Beast

Danish is pretty much like Swedish, only we use u instead of o. So, it's Atjuu, pronounced "a" as in "hat", "tj" as "ch" in "rich", and "uu" as "oo" in "Boo!".

And you might note that the traditional response, "prosit", is originally a latin expression.


Cheers,
~Bistro

Hello everyone!

I'm back from my trip
I've added Bistroist latest info about Danish sneezing.
Thank you!

Hope to see the list grow

A Perfectly Noraml Beast

I would say avo-sou-ai and ate-sou-ai rather than what you said as the pronounciation for the french 'bless you'. They both mean 'To your health' by the way, and it might be worth mentioning that in Europe at least most of the things you say when you sneeze date back to the time of the plague, when people would say 'God Bless You' or something similar (or something in their own language) when someone sneezed, as sneezing was a symptom of the plague. That's why a lot of countries don't have anything that you say after someone sneezed.

Oh, and 'a tes souhaits' sounds rather like someone sneezing, don't you think!

Maybe they should be 'ah-voh-sou-ai' and 'ah-teh-sou-ai' - I think that gives a better idea of pronunciation than what I just said...