Sneeze into your SLEEVE??!! Are you KIDDING me?!

[redhen]

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Whether or not it's been around for years or not, I have also been around for years, 54 of them, and I have never heard it, not once, till the recent campaign within the last couple of years. Yes, I watch TV and read extensively. Must have been a secret from the masses. I still say it's disgusting and won't be doing it. I'll stay with disposable cloth and hand sanitizers, but never fear... I rarely have contact with other humans in person so you don't have to be concerned. The world isn't the one I remember at all, I suppose.

Maybe I've been living in an alternate universe and didn't know it because I didn't realize the general popluation was doing this.

I agree..
And i'll also be SURE to teach my child that its impolite to do it unless you have NO other options. Always use a tissue or a napkin first..
No boogers on your clothes please.

 

[Wendy'sChicksRock]

Sorry but it's better to sneeze into your elbow when ( and IT DOES happen ALOT ) a sneeze sneeks up on you. now, if your not sick with a really snotty nose but rather got a bit of pepper or some other scent up your nose that causes you to sneeze its better to muffle it than to just sneeze out right.If you have a cold and are sneezing all the time then you would naturally have a tissue handy. BUT I do tell my kids to cover their mouth with the crook of their arm if one sneeks up on them. Let's face it kids DO NOT run to wash their hands after every sneeze. By NOT sneezing into their hands and then touching EVERYTHING with their hands it DOES cut down on the germs being spread every where..If Im standing in line somewhere and a sneeze sneeks up on my i will cover my face with my elbow..It just seems more polite then sneezing into the faces of the people next to me!!!!

ETA.. Nothing worse than the bag boy or cashier sneezing into their tissue filled hand and then go right back to bagging your food. YUCK I say give me the elbow... much less germs from them to me..

 

[Dunkopf]

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I've never seen anyone do that, thank goodness.

Must hang around with a different crowd....oh, yeah, I don't "hang around" with anyone.

I can see how this would be a problem in Alaska, though. You folks have to march to a different drummer anyway! I've been in -25 weather when we lived in Ohio. Not going back to that.

Actually the 1st time I saw it was in the Army. Of course when you're in the Army you meet every kind of person that the US has to offer. I used to grab napkins at the chow trailer to blow my nose. When you spend the entire day in freezing temperatures you get a runny nose even if you don't have a cold.

Yep, I have no desire at all to go to Alaska. Pictures are just fine.

 

[RabbitMage]

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So in a crowded forum hall I should drop my notepad and pen, hurriedly dig through my backpack for a tissue, sneeze in it, and then...hold onto it? Put it in my backpack? Chances are I still sneezed on my hand, and chances are I'm going to touch something (desk, chair arm, passing papers) before I have a chance to wash my hands.

Also, what kind of nasal problem do people have that they have a snotsplosion every time they sneeze? Unless I'm actually ill (in which case I'm at home and who cares how I sneeze?), I'm not exactly coating my arm in boogers every time.

 

[usschicago1]

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Atleast (to me) that explains the close-mindedness of your opinion. People learn new things everyday; Pluto used to be a planet, cigs CAN kill you and you cant "catch" HIV by being in a swimming pool.... sneezing in your sleeve does not liken you to trash. Just because mama said it, does not always mean it is correct. To judge people based on using a tissue or a sleeve, I would think, would make your mother roll over faster... It would mine.

While I also think its perfectly normal to sneeze into an elbow (not blow snots over it, ew) I dont believe speckled hen is being closed minded. I completely get her point, don't you? And there's no scientific evidence that if you wash your hands like Cynthia said, or if you sneeze into your elbow like the CDC Advocates, what will spread less germs in the long run. She is just surprised by our responses. In my opinion, there no need for the whole " how things change " because she knows that...

 

[redhen]

Quote:
So in a crowded forum hall I should drop my notepad and pen, hurriedly dig through my backpack for a tissue, sneeze in it, and then...hold onto it? Put it in my backpack? Chances are I still sneezed on my hand, and chances are I'm going to touch something (desk, chair arm, passing papers) before I have a chance to wash my hands.

Also, what kind of nasal problem do people have that they have a snotsplosion every time they sneeze? Unless I'm actually ill (in which case I'm at home and who cares how I sneeze?), I'm not exactly coating my arm in boogers every time.

Well... i VERY rarely sneeze unless i'm sick/cold/allergies....(i.e. boogers)
Sure if you get some pepper up your nose and its a suprise sneeze...i get using the elbow in a pinch...
But when you are sick.. yes.. you NEED to have tissues HANDY... Who wouldnt??

ETA: Also..yes, i have dropped MANY things in my life to try to grab a tissue when i felt a sneeze coming on... Didnt want boogers on my hands or sleeve..

 

[jerseygirl1]

Yeah, the 'Look up at the light to stop the sneeze' never worked for me

 

[Dunkopf]

I never heard of it before the recent H1N1 scare. It makes a lot of sense. I don't ever have booger messes when I sneeze. I do have a lot of spit particles though. I like for people to cover when they cough too. I have had phlegm fly out more than once when I coughed. It's really annoying when you are on an elevator and someone sneezes without covering. I don't really care how they cover as long as they do. I did learn something from this post though. I never knew how much more effective the elbow method was.

The cowboy handkerchief is gross. To me that is low class. I find it amusing how passionate some of the responses have been about the elbow thing.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Yep....That's what we taught in Head Start if you couldnt get to a tissue fast enough.

I would rather have those wet particles hit the sleeve of my shirt or the skin of my arm than go airborne all over everything else.
*speaking of the surprise sneeze...not the mucousy ones that you know are coming when you are sick*

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I have been around long enough to know that while the current research shows that this sneezing into your sleeve idea seems best to slow the spread of disease next year or in the next decade something else will seem better according to further research, and it may even be a backtrack to the use of Kleenex. In health care especially things come and go even in full circles.

Most sneezes are an issue of airborne droplets containing viruses. Trying to contain them from air gets something contaminated and that something then spreads the virus by contact. So that something has to have little contact or be washed after every sneeze. You figure out what system works best for you!

Best of all use the excuse to stay home and curl up with a good book. When your feeling better take the next day to clean everything you tend to touch, do the laundry, bag up the garbage and air the house out. Done, it's over.