You heard me right, God Blawn You. Years from now when “blawn” is officially accepted by Merriam-Webster, I shall site this blog as evidence of its creation but yours truly.

What is a blawn, you ask? Much like the common “God bless you” for sneezes, blawn is for yawns. See someone yawn? God blawn them! It’s simple and polite, unique and whimsical. Gee whiz, it’s even a little bit wholesome. Not really.

The true origins of the more traditional God Bless You are unknown, but I had always been told (and it is commonly thought) that it was because your heart stopped while sneezing. Thus, the blessing was a quick prayer of protection for the ticker. Other sources suggest it arose during the age of the plague and was used to ward off the disease. Most fantastically I’ve read that the soul was thought to be tossed from the body via the violent action of the sneeze, and thus a Bless You was certainly warranted.

According to Wikipedia, Tibetan monks believe a sneeze provides a moment of clarity in which the mind is opened to understanding. I have no idea whether this is true, and I shan’t be taking the time to fact-check Wikipedia currently.

But, back to the yawn. I would venture to say that there are more yawns in a day than sneezes, at least in my allergy-free experience, and mostly yawns are followed with retorts of “Tired?” or “You’re making me sleepy!” or other lame phrases. It’s time the yawn got what it deserved.

Happy Blawning!

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