[General] Response to 'bless you' after you sneeze

[EnglishLearner007]

Hi Guys

While I understand that this is not particularly a grammar-type question (it leans more towards manners), but I am going to ask anyway.

If you sneeze, you apologize by saying 'excuse me;' however, sometimes others are polite and say 'bless you' to you. So, if you are still at sneeze-and-recover mode, but before you apologize, someone blesses you, should you respond by saying 'excuse me' or 'thanks' (out of manners) to the person who blessed you?

Thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

You can say thank you.

In AmE, gesundheit is a common alternative to "bless you".

 

[EnglishLearner007]

Gesundheit. I heard that word from my Swiss colleagues as well. I think it is pronounced as Ge-sun-dite in High German and Sun-dite in Swiss German.

 

[Skrej]

Yes, it's actually a German word meaning 'health', which translates as something like 'to your health'.

 

[GoesStation]

Gesundheit entered my variety of English via Yiddish, which obviously acquired it from German. I have a feeling it also entered American English directly from German, which was once spoken widely in the States.