A teacher in Northern California has banned the phrase “God bless you” from being said in his class following a sneeze, according to multiple reports.
The teacher, Steve Cuckovich, has even punished a student by lowering that student’s grade for uttering the phrase that’s a common courtesy across the world, according to reports. Cuckovich teaches health in Vacaville.
“When you sneezed in the old days, they thought you were dispelling evil spirits out of your body,” Cuckovich told local media. “So they were saying, ‘god bless you’ for getting rid of evil spirits. But today, I said what you’re doing doesn’t really make any sense anymore.”
The teacher stopped lowering grades for students who say “bless you” after parents complained. But make no mistake – he plans on coming up with another way to punish students who utter that phrase after someone sneezes.
