A tes suets and Gesundheit （5/26投稿の「アテスエとガズンタイ」の翻訳）

I have a bad habit of "sneezing loudly." Or, more accurately, I used to. When I am about to sneeze, I would take a big breath in, and that would make the sneeze sound ridiculously loud. When I was in high school, I used to be stared down by my teacher for sneezing too loud during class. He thought that I was making fun of his class. Indeed, it was ungentleman-like of me.

For my work, I used to live in the U.S. and France for extended periods of time and took many short business trips to Germany and the U.K. No matter where I went, I used to always make oversized sneezes while riding on the train or on other public transportation. Then, in the U.S. and the U.K., my sneezes were returned with a "Bless you!" by strangers. This is short for "God bless you!" In France, it is “A tes suets” (meaning "I pray that you may be saved"), and in Germany, it is “Gesundheit” (meaning "May you be in good health"). They all mean "Take care of yourself." On the train, you can see this message being transmitted from the person sitting in front of you to another person far away, like a relay. What a kind-hearted and smiling custom!

However, amid the recent corona epidemic, if one were to show an oversized sneeze in public, he or she might get cold feet or even be thrown out of the train. So, I came up with a plan. If you ever feel like sneezing, resist the urge to breathe in and, conversely, breathe only out. By doing so, the sneeze will have no charge to become any louder than the sound of an empty breath. It seems like I will no longer cause a disturbance to others now. But, it’s going to be lonely to not hear the relays of “A tes suets” or “Gesundheit” anymore.