Watching so lovely an animation, 'Tangled', I chanced to hear this expression,
"Gesundheit."
Rider, who was tied by the hair of Rapunzel, used that phrase to her,
probably, I guess, thinking the golden-haired girl is from Germany.
Rapunzel, they say, sounds like a name from Germany.
What I'd like to know is...
1. Is the expression 'Gesundite' such a common one that the majority of Americans are believed to know that?
2. I looked up the dictionary which says the phrase is the equivalent of 'God bless you'.
Then, do you English-speaking people also use that almost ONLY when the person in front of you coughs or sneezes?
The word is German for "good health" and has nothing to do with a god.
That is correct. However, please note that the word is usually used as a substitute for the English expression 'God bless you' when someone sneezes. Btw, I believe it came into common use in English not directly from the German but, rather, through the Yiddish language, a Germanic dialect. At least in the USA.
I had no idea there was a hospital named after that
even though I actually saw the movie.
That has little to nothing to do with the "Gesundheit" you asked about.
"Gesundheit" is German and just means literally translated "the well being" (= 'health').
It is a common response in German-speaking countries when someone sneezes ... but otherwise, it just means "health".
[In medieval times and even later, "Gesundheit" was used instead of the later "Zum Wohl" (= cheers )]
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SMickey
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Fri 25 Jul, 2014 09:22 am
@JTT,
Thanks for asking. Though I'm working on it, I seriously doubt that I'm making any progress. I've wrestled with some grammar books written in Korean only to find that what I've learned was somewhat different from what native speakers actually speak. You'd help me to deal with such problems when I ask you, wouldn't you, JTT?
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