Student reportedly suspended after saying 'Bless you'

[averagejoe]

Student reportedly suspended after saying 'Bless you'

DYER COUNTY, TN -

(WMC) – A young girl, who claims she was standing up for her religious beliefs in the classroom, was suspended after breaking a class rule of saying "bless you" after a classmate sneezed.
When Dyer County High School senior Kendra Turner said bless you to her classmate, she says her teacher told her that was for church.

"She said that we're not going to have godly speaking in her class and that's when I said we have a constitutional right," said Turner.

Turner says when she defended her actions, she was told to see an administrator. She says she finished the class period in in-school suspension.

Students sent WMC Action News 5's Michael Clark a photo of the teacher's white board that lists 'bless you' and other expressions that are banned as part of class rules.


http://www.wbtv.com/story/26320134/dyer ... -bless-you

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2014/08/2 ... e-sneezed/

http://oklahoma-city-oklahoma.yourlocal ... +at+school

[JLives]

That's ridiculous. I'm an atheist and I still say bless you when someone sneezes.

[averagejoe]

That's ridiculous. I'm an atheist and I still say bless you when someone sneezes.

Make sure you don't have some kind of policy at your work that can get you fired for saying Bless you, Jenny!

[WeatherWoman]

I wonder if there is more to the story.

[Merry]

I suspect there is. It sounds to me as though the student got into a bit of an argument with the teacher, and THAT is what she really got the in house suspension for.

[averagejoe]

I wonder if there is more to the story.

Try and find more to the story...I've given 3 stories on it....

[averagejoe]

Good thing she didn't say "God Bless you". She would have been kick right out of school. Count her lucky stars....

[GordonH]

Due to part of my Family background I use Gesundheit.

Yes, its same thing just some people don't know its translation.

Added later: checked into Gesundheit it's meaning appears to be good health and not bless you

[averagejoe]

Due to part of my Family background I use Gesundheit.

Yes, its same thing just some people don't know its translation.

I wonder if that's on the banned list of words? Would be interesting to find out....

[GordonH]

Many people have become accustomed to saying "bless you" or "gesundheit" when someone sneezes. No one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose or burps, so why do sneezes get special treatment? What do those phrases actually mean, anyway?
Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say "Jupiter preserve you" or "Salve," which meant "good health to you," and the Greeks would wish each other "long life." The phrase "God bless you" is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague).
The exchangeable term "gesundheit" comes from Germany, and it literally means "health." The idea is that a sneeze typically precedes illness. It entered the English language in the early part of the 20th century, brought to the United States by German-speaking immigrants.
Virtually every country around the globe has its own way of wishing sneezers well. People in Arabic countries say, "Alhamdulillah," which means, "praise be to God." Hindus say, "Live!" or "Live well!" Some countries have special sneezing responses for children. In Russia, after children are given the traditional response, "bud zdorov" ("be healthy"), they are also told "rosti bolshoi" ("grow big"). When a child sneezes in China, he or she will hear "bai sui," which means, "may you live 100 years."
For the most part, the various sneeze responses originated from ancient superstitions. Some people believed that a sneeze causes the soul to escape the body through the nose. Saying "bless you" would stop the devil from claiming the person's freed soul. Others believed the opposite: that evil spirits use the sneeze as an opportunity to enter a person's body. There was also the misconception that the heart momentarily stops during a sneeze (it doesn't), and that saying "bless you" was a way of welcoming the person back to life.
We now know that sneezing is a reflex action and is most often the sign of something relatively benign, such as a cold or allergy. A sneeze also can be provoked by being outside in the sunlight or from smelling a strong odor. Still, we persist in the custom of saying "bless you" or "gesundheit," mainly out of habit and common courtesy.
For more information on sneezing and related topics, check out the next page.

[GordonH]

Due to part of my Family background I use Gesundheit.

Yes, its same thing just some people don't know its translation.

Added later: checked into Gesundheit it's meaning appears to be good health and not bless you

So translating good health and bless you into German you get the same Gesundheit

I wonder if that's on the banned list of words? Would be interesting to find out....

If a person uses Gesundheit they could argue that they were wishing good health. lol

[Fancy]

I suspect there is. It sounds to me as though the student got into a bit of an argument with the teacher, and THAT is what she really got the in house suspension for.

My thought as well - why yell it across the room?

[WeatherWoman]

Try and find more to the story...I've given 3 stories on it.

the operative word in your reply is STORIES. Only the teacher and student know the truth and may of us should know that the news isn't always the truth but often a story.

[zzontar]

What's ridiculous is that in the 21st century we're still following a tradition of scaring away demons from flying into people's mouths when they sneeze.

[Hmmm]

What's ridiculous is that in the 21st century we're still following a tradition of scaring away demons from flying into people's mouths when they sneeze.

Than you must find almost all of life rediculous. There are too many traditions to name that most follow, that date back to some ancient superstition.