On this date in A.D. 600, Pope Gregory the Great decreed that saying “God bless you” is the correct response to a sneeze.

How does that work, exactly? When you become pope, do they give you a special hotline phone? If so, I think there are more important questions he could have asked.

You can spare others the whole “gesundheit” question by tickling the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue — it stops the sneeze impulse.