Hello from the newbie

[Eva Elisabeth]

Roger, allow me to blab - fact is, Roger's German is EXCELLENT, and so is his French!! (Incredible how someone can master this language beyond successfully buying a baguette! Especially the subjonctif...)

Laurie and Mike - to say or not to say "Gesundheit" that is the question which reveals all about your educational background and social origin.
When the black death raged throughout Europe, people selfishly said "Gesundheit" (literally "health", meaning "bless you") to someone sneezing because they wished themselves to stay healthy. Over the years, common people stuck to this phrase.
In 1788, nobleman Freiherr Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Knigge, a German writer and Freemason, published his book "On Human Relations", which became and still is the ultimative and authoritative guide to behaviour, politeness, and etiquette. The German word “Knigge” has come to mean “good manners”. Knigge's rules forbid saying "Gesundheit" due to the selfish origin of the phrase and because it is generally impolite to make someone aware of his weaknesses and impairments.

The Knigge-Society nowadays updates and adjusts the rules to modern life and new concerns (like how to write emails), and just recently graciously allowed to say "Gesundheit" (because common people - thus the majority - never ceased doing so) - but it is still risqué in certain surroundings.

So - if you consider entering noble (or snobbish) circles of society I highly recommend to grandly ignore people's sneezing (and this is for sure what Tad was taught in Frankfurt).