Etiquette

I suppose Red Lobster, and the whole bib thing would not go over very well here!!

LOL
HYSTERICAL!

Really though. "God bless you" is quite silly isn't it? I recall on Seinfeld they would say instead of "God bless you"...."You're SO good looking". Now THAT would be something!

LOL!!! I can't believe you remember that too! I ALWAYS say, "you are SO good looking" when someone sneezes! Ever since that episode aired! As an atheist, I never felt comfortable with the whole god bless you thing, but I always felt I had to say something. In the US if you don't, people look at you like there's something wrong with you. So I figured if it was good enough for Jerry, it was good enough for me!

LOL!!! I can't believe you remember that too! I ALWAYS say, "you are SO good looking" when someone sneezes! Ever since that episode aired! As an atheist, I never felt comfortable with the whole god bless you thing, but I always felt I had to say something. In the US if you don't, people look at you like there's something wrong with you. So I figured if it was good enough for Jerry, it was good enough for me!

And nobody looks at you like there's something wrong with you when you say 'you are SO good looking'?     

Here's one more thing about visiting (sort of).

At our wedding, we're having about 25 guests, a handful are out-of-town guests, the rest are fiance's friends and family here in York.  So after I had made out the invitations, I asked my fiance to give me their addresses, so that I could stick the invitations in the post.

No. According to my fiance, we have to go to everybody's house and personally hand deliver the invitations, then stop and chat.  So we've delivered some, but sometimes people aren't home, our schedules don't work out, etc. I don't mind visiting people, but I could have walked to the mailbox and dropped all the invitations in at once; it would have taken me five minutes.  This way is taking weeks.


Is this considered proper etiquette? If we had just mailed the invitations, would it have been rude?

We've definately gotten invites in the post. 

There are only people in the City of York, where we live, so the travel time is nothing.  It's just hard to fit it into our schedules. Then again, he's just started getting involved in the wedding planning, where I'm at the point where I just want to get everything over and done with.

And nobody looks at you like there's something wrong with you when you say 'you are SO good looking'?     

so that explains it! 

In America, if you don't want to use a religious term when someone sneezes, you say "Gesundheit", which just means "be healthy." Even though "Bless you" or "God bless you" was originally about the spirit leaving the body when someone sneezes, now it is just a way of showing concern for the health of the person who sneezed.  I'm not a religious person, but if someone says "God bless you" to me, I don't think they're forcing religion on me, I think they are being caring.

"Goodbye" really means "God be with you", but atheists say goodbye.

In America, if you don't want to use a religious term when someone sneezes, you say "Gesundheit", which just means "be healthy." Even though "Bless you" or "God bless you" was originally about the spirit leaving the body when someone sneezes, now it is just a way of showing concern for the health of the person who sneezed.  I'm not a religious person, but if someone says "God bless you" to me, I don't think they're forcing religion on me, I think they are being caring.

Really??

I always thought that "God Bless You" was originally coined during the black plague.   Something about one of the first signs of getting the plague was that you sneezed.  People who heard you sneeze, blessed you as chances were you were going to die.

I'd read that it had to do with the idea that when you sneezed, your spirit temporarily left your body. Someone else on this thread mentioned that explananation as well.

Snopes lists both explanations, and says that nobody knows the true reason.

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/blessyou.htm

Wow!!!

Fantasitc web site! (Settles down for a good read.)   

And nobody looks at you like there's something wrong with you when you say 'you are SO good looking'?

LOL!  That's what I thought too!  I would definitely think it odd if somebody said that!

But then, I'm not a Seinfeld fan, so I've never heard of that before.  Now that I know I might think differently.

I don't usually say "God bless you" I just say "Bless you."  Anyone can bless someone.

I don't usually say "God bless you" I just say "Bless you."  Anyone can bless someone.

Ditto.  I just think it's a nice thing to do, ala please and thank you.  Ingrained I guess.

Just to complicate matters, I always say "you're welcome" if someone thanks me for something, but sometimes, if someone has pushed past me, or left me holding a door open for them without saying thanks I will often say it then too sarcastically, "oh you are WELCOME" and smile. It's amazing how many times that prompts a "sorry" and a "thank you"....... complicated - us? never!

I don't think British people normally say "you're welcome".

When do you use "cheers"? Does it mean "thank you"? "you're welcome"?

I'm never sure when to use it.

I've found 'cheers' is akin to 'prego' in Italian.  Meaning, it can be used for 'heya,' 'thanks,' 'hi,' 'cool,' 'right,' or any such terms.  Very interchangeable.
Sadly, I've also come to realise that 'Are you alright?' or 'You alright?' means the same thing as 'Hey how's it goin'?' in the U.S., or at least where I come from:  it really just means 'hi,' they don't really want to know how you're doing  .  Found out the hard way when I noticed a pattern of eyes glazing over when I'd actually start to answer the question, same as when my ex landed in LA and started giving specifics when people said to him 'Hey, how's it going?'
Oh well.