From the
Embarrassing Moments while in
Foreign Countries files - for the
Everything Travel Guide:
While in Lyon,
France for business, I caught a
taxi my first night to get back to my hotel from a restaurant. The driver and I spoke in
French during the drive. (Admittedly my French limited; I can speak for about 10 minutes before I run out of words.) At one point the driver
sneezed, and I said "
bless you" in
English.
The driver said "
Excuse me?" (Or was it "pardon?") and I said "bless you". At this point the driver stiffened up and stopped
speaking to me. I wasn't sure why, and it seemed
odd to me that our
friendly conversation ended so
abruptly. However, I did not know enough French to explore the situation.
The next morning my
Project Manager was driving me to a
client meeting. We wound through the streets of Lyon and became
lost. We spoke English (a relief to me!) Michel told me that the French admired
President Clinton because in France most married people have
affairs and do not believe it is
wrong. I replied that that was
horrible, married people should not have affairs! Then Michel
sneezed, and I said "bless you". Michel said "What??!!". I said "bless you". Michel asked what this means, and I said that it's my hope that G-d will watch over you and keep you
healthy.
Michel laughed. He explained that in French "bless you" means "
hurt you". Bless from the verb "blesser". Well, that explained why the taxi driver didn't like me!!
We had a good
laugh, and I asked Michel what one should say in France when someone sneezes. He said it's "a vos souhait". Literally, this translates as "to your wishes". I guess that when a French person sneezes they are supposed to make a wish!
So, when you're in France, never say "bless you" (unless you really don't like the person). Say "a vos souhaits!" or "a tes souhaits!"