You are sooo good lookin'

I just sneezed and someone yelled "bless you"...from the other room.

I don't do the "bless you" thing, and I certainly don't do it from a distance. Those who do say it, however, mean business. They quite literally come running in from other rooms just to deliver these two words of empathetic acknowledgement. Countless superstitions ground this widespread but generally unquestioned practice, but I don't think people say "bless you" to ward off bad spirits or condemn disease anymore. It's an obligatory response, one is that is so ingrained in people, so utterly habitual, that they force the issue, even interrupting existing conversations to say it. The dead air following a sneeze makes other people uncomfortable; they must say it, at all costs, lest they be perceived as impolite. Like most standardized sayings and knee-jerk responses, "bless you" has no real substance.

Maybe we should follow Seinfeld's lead; I'd rather be good looking than blessed, anyway.