FOR God's sake, can we cut out "Bless you"? I hate it. This polite pleasantry when someone sneezes genuinely makes my blood boil. We need to phase it out of our cultural lexicon.

I am not an overly cynical person and I feel that I am rather tolerant with most things; indeed, I am very chirpy most of the time. And I never actually have a go at someone for saying "bless you", even if it's said to me. But to my friends, I often express my deep loathing for this little phrase, which needs to be jettisoned from the linguistic rotation.

It is not because it is religious, as no one is really saying it for another's soul as magic against possible illness (as in the times of old - we know the stories). It is merely an unnecessary nicety - an almost sickly and brain-dead kind of politeness. There seems to be some awkwardness with a sneeze, as if something needs to be said after one. But for God's sake, can't we just treat it like a cough? A cough is not awkward at all.

Please, people. We can do this. There may be a few weeks of inertia, where after a sneeze you think, "Whoops, don't say it," but after this passes we will be in a bless-you-free society. It's just such an irritating thing to hear, especially in public. It is a relic of a superstitious past and indicative of a wider lack of critical thinking in our society.

It's often a self-gratifying expression just said so someone feels nice for saying it, yet seems so frivolous and thoughtless. There are other ways we can be nice to each other. "Bless you" is so infuriatingly mundane.

Whenever I sneeze, it usually comes in at bouts of at least five. Obviously, a bless-you is done only at the first sneeze and this shows bless-you up for what it really is, a sort of "I'm OK with your sneezing."

Surely, as a society of mature adults, we can just let go and be cool when someone sneezes. It happens all the time. Just model your (lack of) response on the cough.

I'm deadly serious. Let's reconsider our position on the sneeze and just chill out. It doesn't preclude being nice to strangers or smiling at someone you don't know. It doesn't diminish the importance of a society in which we are friendly to each other and respect one another. It just will just remove an embarrassingly irksome pseudo-pleasantry which we would do better without.

Readers are invited to send 450 words on what makes their blood
boil to heckler@smh.com.au. Include your daytime phone details.