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My grandma learned Portuguese in Rio in early 1950’s, and years later when anyone sneezed she’d respond in Portuguese.

I can’t remember her words now, but it’s not any of the words from other questions that I checked...

Also, if you sneezed a 2nd or 3rd time she’d say “outra vez, outra vez.”

Would anyone happen to know if they used to say something different that long ago?

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  • Olá Tricia, bem-vinda. I made an edition to your question to try to improve it. If you don't like it or prefer to have it different, just edit your question. You can see the changes by clicking the "edited X hours ago" link in the middle-bottom of your question. :)
    – ANeves
    Oct 15, 2018 at 19:33
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    Tricia, what are the words you found and ruled out? I suppose "santinho" would be one of them. But if you let us know all of them then it will help us find the one you want. And don't worry about buchering spelling: we got it and fixed it.
    – Jacinto
    Oct 16, 2018 at 16:40

2 Answers 2

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  • Born and raised in Rio, the usual comment I would hear after someone sneezed was, and still is, "saúde". Saúde translates as "health" and the person who says it is expressing a wish of "good health".

  • Less frequently one might hear "Deus te abençoe" ("God bless you")

  • In 21st Century Portugal I've heard "santinho". ("little saint") which you hardly ever hear in Brazil.
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    I've heard (from my Brazilian grandparents perhaps) the expression "Deus te crie" ("May God create you") for that effect. It is a funny expression to use.
    – Piovezan
    Oct 21, 2018 at 22:53
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    @Piovezan "Deus te crie" is translated as "May God raise you". "Criar" means traise, breed, bring up, in addition to "create".
    – Centaurus
    Oct 21, 2018 at 23:12
  • Indeed, that is a better translation. Thanks for the correction.
    – Piovezan
    Oct 21, 2018 at 23:16
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I know by my grandmother that, if someone sneezes, they say Blessing for the first two times, but at the third time, they say It's a cold! (É gripe!).

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    Wellington, I believe you tried to commend, since you only translated English–Portuguese, but you wrote it as an answer,
    – Schilive
    Aug 23, 2021 at 23:39
  • Wellingnton, eles diziam mesmo "blessing"? O que importante é o que eles (os cariocas?) diziam em português. Se traduzes como "blessing", imagino que fosse "Deus te abençoe", mas isto sou eu a imaginar, porque "blessing" significa ’benção’, que eu nunca ouvi dizer a quem espirra.
    – Jacinto
    Aug 24, 2021 at 6:18
  • @Jacinto Talvez o Wellington tenha querido dizer "Bless you", que dito rápido se assemelha a "Blessing".
    – stafusa ♦
    Aug 30, 2021 at 20:59

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