Today, while working on my laptop at a local café, I sneezed loudly. Almost simultaneously, the grandmother at the next table, the barista, and a man in line all exclaimed, "Bless you!"

Receiving blessings from three people at once made me laugh unexpectedly. I thanked them, but while sipping my coffee, I suddenly became curious.

Why do people offer blessings when someone sneezes? In Korea, it's rare for anyone to say anything when someone sneezes.

When I first came to the U.S., this felt really awkward. It was both fascinating and slightly embarrassing that a stranger reacted to my sneeze.

So today, after finishing a deadline, I decided to look into it. The story turned out to be much older than I expected.

One of the oldest recorded traces dates back to Roman times. The naturalist Pliny the Elder mentioned the custom of greeting someone who sneezes in his work published in 77 AD.

Pliny even posed the question of why people greet someone who sneezes. It amused me that even people back then didn't know the reason.

The same text mentions that Emperor Tiberius insisted on receiving this greeting even while riding in a chariot. Imagining the emperor sneezing and waiting for a response suddenly makes him seem more relatable.

However, it's said that what the Romans said was closer to a greeting than a blessing. It was more about wishing good health.

If we go further back, there's a scene in the Greek classic, the Odyssey, where sneezing is considered a good omen. It seems that sneezing has held some significance for a long time.

So where does the expression "God bless you" come from? The most widely circulated story connects it to Pope Gregory I.

In 590 AD, a plague swept through Rome, and the previous pope, Pelagius II, died from it. The story goes that Gregory I instructed people to pray for those who sneezed.

The idea was that sneezing could be the first sign of illness, so one should immediately ask for God's mercy. Upon hearing this, I thought, ah, that's why it's a blessing.

But there's a twist. Linguists believe there's no evidence that Gregory I actually said such a thing.

In fact, some sources attribute the same story to Gregory VII, who lived several hundred years later. Since the figures keep changing, it's more accurate to view it as a legend.

What's certain is that the custom itself predates that story by a long shot. Many believe that the Christian blessing was later added to a greeting that Romans were already using.

The folk reasons behind it are interesting too. There's a belief that when you sneeze, your soul can escape your body, and that bad spirits can enter during that moment.

There's also the famous saying that your heart stops briefly when you sneeze. So, the interpretation is that you're congratulating someone for coming back to life, but that's just a myth.

A sneeze is simply a reflex action of the body trying to expel irritants from the nose or throat. It's just a matter of inhaling deeply and then exhaling forcefully, which briefly changes the pressure in the chest.

Your heart doesn't actually stop when you sneeze. I used to believe that as a child, so I felt a bit betrayed.

Another phrase you often hear in the U.S. is "Gesundheit." It means health in German.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the first use of this word in English to 1914. Many explanations suggest it spread through German immigrants, but the exact details of how it spread are still unclear.

So, the phrase we hear in cafés combines Roman greetings, medieval prayers, and immigrant languages. It's pretty cool to think that two thousand years of history come with a single sneeze, right?

These days, it seems rare for people to say this phrase with any religious meaning. It's more like a brief signal of, "Are you okay? I'm thinking of you."

What felt awkward at first has now become quite nice. There's a sense of brief connection between strangers.

In Korea, ignoring someone's sneeze is considered polite. It's interesting to think that both ways are just different approaches to considering others.

Conversely, in the U.S., not saying this greeting can come off as slightly indifferent. When someone sneezes in a meeting and no one reacts, it creates a strangely empty atmosphere; I can't be the only one who feels that way, right?

So nowadays, when someone sneezes, I'm the first to say, "Bless you!" Timing it just right gives me a bit of competitive spirit.

If there's anyone who hasn't gotten used to saying this yet, I encourage you to give it a try next time. If the other person smiles and says, "Thank you," it really lifts your mood for the day.

The conclusion for today is simple: Let's not hold back on sneezing, and let's not skimp on blessings!