Sneezing Meaning: Is Someone Talking About You?

What sneezing means in folk belief

Hardly any bodily sign has been interpreted as widely as the sneeze. It comes suddenly, you can barely suppress it, and for a moment you are at your body's mercy: eyes shut, head forward, a loud noise. No wonder people saw more in it than a tickle in the nose.

The interpretations fall roughly into three families. The first reads the sneeze as a signal from outside: someone is thinking about you, talking about you, saying your name. The second reads it as confirmation: whatever is said or thought at the moment of the sneeze is true, or will come true. The third reads it as danger: for that instant you are unprotected, so someone speaks a blessing. From this third family comes the "bless you" that Americans still say today.

The sneeze belongs to a small group of body signs that folk belief treats as messages from a distance. The best known are hiccups, ringing in the ears and an itchy nose. All of them arrive uninvited, and all of them are read as news from someone who is not in the room.

"Someone is talking about you": the East Asian belief

In China, Korea and Japan the idea is still part of everyday life: if you suddenly sneeze without having a cold, someone somewhere is talking about you. Japan has a counting rhyme that many children know, ichi home, ni soshiri, san hore, yon kaze (in some regions the second word is kenashi): one sneeze, someone praises you; two, someone speaks ill of you; three, someone is in love with you; four, you have caught a cold.

The rhyme is cleverly built. It starts with something pleasant, turns critical at the second sneeze, romantic at the third, and ends on the fourth with a completely sober diagnosis. If you sneeze often enough, folk belief itself tells you it is probably just your nose. That is the most honest punch line a superstition can have.

English has rhymes of its own. One old counting verse goes: "One for a wish, two for a kiss, three for a letter, four for something better." Another assigns a meaning to each weekday: sneeze on Monday for danger, on Tuesday to kiss a stranger, on Wednesday for a letter, on Thursday for something better, on Friday for sorrow, on Saturday to see your sweetheart tomorrow, and on Sunday you had better seek your safety, or the devil will have you the rest of the week. Rhymes like this are typical of folk belief. They sort the random into a pattern and make it a little less uncanny.

"He sneezed on it": sneezing as proof of truth

German folk belief had its own, almost legal reading. Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander recorded it in his great German Proverb Lexicon (1867): "He sneezed on it, so it must be true." If someone sneezed during a statement, the statement counted as confirmed. German even has a special verb, beniesen, "to sneeze on something," used for exactly this and nothing else.

Wander collected more: a sneeze in the morning means gifts, and good luck comes toward whoever sneezes. He also lists a whole weekday series for sneezing on an empty stomach, which runs remarkably parallel to the English rhyme: Sunday brings guests, Monday gifts, Tuesday an insult, Wednesday love, Thursday grief, Friday pleasure, Saturday annoyance. The two traditions probably never borrowed from each other directly. They simply show how universally people wanted to turn a sneeze into a calendar.

A nod from the gods: sneezing in antiquity

The oldest famous sneeze is in Homer. In Book 17 of the Odyssey, Penelope says she wishes Odysseus would come home and punish the suitors, and at that moment her son Telemachus sneezes so loudly that the house rings with it. Penelope laughs and takes it as a good omen. The audience already knows: the beggar in the hall is Odysseus himself.

In Xenophon, the sneeze even becomes political. In the Anabasis (3.2) he is speaking to the army about how they might be saved when a soldier sneezes. The men bow to Zeus the Savior, and Xenophon uses the moment to propose a vow. The sneeze worked like a vote that heaven had won.

The philosophers were intrigued too. The Problems handed down under Aristotle's name ask why a sneeze is considered sacred while a cough is not. The answer: because it comes from the head, the noblest part of the body. And Pliny the Elder reports that the emperor Tiberius insisted on being greeted when he sneezed, even while riding in his carriage.

Why we say "bless you" and "gesundheit"

Almost every language has a response to a sneeze. English speakers say "bless you" or "God bless you." Italians say salute, Spanish speakers salud or Jesús. In Islamic tradition the person who sneezes says al-hamdu lillah, praise be to God, and the listener answers with a blessing. Many Americans use the German word gesundheit, "health," which German and Yiddish-speaking immigrants brought with them and which had settled into American English by the early twentieth century.

Where the custom comes from is not certain. A popular story says Pope Gregory the Great ordered the blessing during the plague of 590, because sneezing was an early sign of illness. That story is not documented, and the ancient examples show people were greeting sneezers long before. Another explanation says people feared the soul could escape during a sneeze, or that something evil could slip in. The blessing would then be a small protective charm built into daily life.

Modern etiquette guides tend to recommend saying nothing and letting a sneeze pass discreetly, with the sneezer offering a quick "excuse me." Among friends, people keep on blessing each other anyway. A protective wish is hard to unlearn.

One, two, three sneezes: what the number is supposed to say

Number	Japanese counting rhyme	English and European belief	Sober reading
1	Someone is praising you	A wish; confirmation; gifts in the morning	A single irritant, usually dust or light
2	Someone is gossiping	A kiss	The first sneeze did not quite clear the irritant
3	Someone is in love with you	A letter; luck coming your way	Common in bright sunlight or pollen season
4 or more	You have a cold	Something better	A cold or an allergy is likely

The last column is not there to spoil the fun. It is the foundation: only when the sober explanation has been ruled out is it worth asking who might be thinking of you.

What happens in your body when you sneeze

Sneezing is a protective reflex. When something irritates the nerve endings in the lining of your nose (dust, pollen, pepper, viruses), the trigeminal nerve sends a signal to the brainstem. There a fixed program runs: a deep breath in, the throat closes, pressure builds, and then the air bursts out through nose and mouth. Your eyes close automatically. The idea that they would pop out if you kept them open is a myth, and so is the claim that your heart stops when you sneeze.

Three things many people do not know:

• Sunlight makes many people sneeze. The photic sneeze reflex affects roughly 18 to 35 percent of people in studies and runs in families; researchers gave it the tongue-in-cheek acronym ACHOO syndrome. If you sneeze stepping out into bright sun, you usually do not have a cold.
• You do not sneeze in deep sleep. In the deeper sleep stages the reflex is suppressed; a strong irritant tends to wake you first.
• A sneeze is slower than its reputation. The often-quoted 100 miles per hour does not hold up in measurements; the airflow is much slower. The fine droplets still travel far, more than 20 feet in some laboratory studies, which is why a sneeze belongs in the crook of your elbow.

There is a record too. According to Guinness World Records, Donna Griffiths of England sneezed for 978 days, from January 1981 to September 1983. She is an extreme case, and the best proof that frequent sneezing belongs with a doctor, not with an interpretation.

Common situations

No quotes and no names, only the situations in which sneezing typically comes up when people talk about signs:

• The sneeze in the middle of a sentence. Many people remember a family member saying "see, that proves it" after a well-timed sneeze. The custom lives on mostly inside families.
• Thinking of one particular person. A sneeze is most often read as a sign when you are already thinking about someone who is missing. The sign usually mirrors your own longing.
• The mix-up with hay fever. In spring, the supposed omen turns into a pollen allergy surprisingly often once you put the calendar next to it.

What we do not promise

• No mind reading. There is no evidence that anyone is talking about you when you sneeze.
• No lie detector. A sneeze makes a statement neither true nor false. "Sneezing on it" is a game with language.
• No healing. No ritual and no interpretation replaces having an allergy, infection or constant sneezing checked.
• No fear. A sneeze is not a bad omen. Your soul does not leave, and your heart does not stop.

In practice: what to do with a sneeze

• Ask your nose first. Dust, light, pollen, a cold? Then the matter is explained.
• Then ask the moment. What were you just saying or thinking? Folk belief points your attention to exactly this instant, and that can be revealing.
• Stay kind. Whether someone is praising or gossiping, you cannot know. You only decide how you speak about others yourself.
• Use your elbow. The politest protective charm is the crook of your arm in front of your mouth.
• See a doctor if it lasts. More than a week, fever, shortness of breath, or the same season every year: that is worth having checked.

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean when you sneeze suddenly?

In folk belief, a sudden sneeze without a cold is a sign that someone is thinking or talking about you. In old European belief it also confirmed whatever was just said. Biologically there is usually a small irritant behind it, such as dust or bright light.

What does sneezing three times mean?

According to the Japanese counting rhyme, three sneezes mean someone is in love with you. One stands for praise, two for gossip, four for a cold. In the English rhyme, three sneezes bring a letter.

Is someone really thinking about me when I sneeze?

It is a widespread folk belief, especially in China, Korea and Japan, but it is not proven. It can still be a nice reason to think of someone yourself and get in touch.

Why do people say bless you when you sneeze?

The custom is very old; people greeted sneezers in antiquity. The story that Pope Gregory the Great introduced the blessing during the plague of 590 is popular but not documented. Most likely it began as a protective wish for a moment when people felt exposed.

Why do Americans say gesundheit?

Gesundheit is German for health. German and Yiddish-speaking immigrants brought the word to the United States, and it was part of everyday American English by the early twentieth century.

Why do I sneeze when I look at the sun?

That is the photic sneeze reflex. It affects roughly 18 to 35 percent of people and runs in families. Bright light seems to stimulate nerve pathways that also serve the nose. It is not an omen.

When should I see a doctor about frequent sneezing?

If the sneezing lasts more than a week, comes with fever or shortness of breath, or returns at the same time every year. An infection or an allergy may be behind it, and both are treatable.

Sources and further reading

• Antiquity: Homer, Odyssey 17 (Telemachus sneezes); Xenophon, Anabasis 3.2 (the sneeze before the army); Pseudo-Aristotle, Problems 33; Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28 (Tiberius).
• Folk belief: Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander, Deutsches Sprichwoerter-Lexikon, Leipzig 1867, entry "Niesen"; English sneezing rhymes as collected in nineteenth-century folklore compilations.
• Japan: counting rhyme ichi home, ni soshiri, san hore, yon kaze, traditional.
• Biology: review articles on the photic sneeze reflex (18 to 35 percent); physiology of the sneeze reflex; laboratory studies of droplet spread; Guinness World Records (Donna Griffiths, 1981-1983).
• Read more on the Desire Diaries: itchy palm · itchy feet · evil eye protection

The readings in this piece are folk belief and tradition, not scientific findings, and they do not replace medical advice. Questions about an order: 28@templeofdesire.com.