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Sep 7, 2011
This week's theme
Interjections

This week's words
cowabunga
huzzah
gesundheit
bada-bing
attaboy

gesundheit cartoon
Cartoon: Baloo

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

gesundheit

PRONUNCIATION:
(guh-ZOONT-hyt)

MEANING:
interjection: Used to wish good health to someone who has sneezed.

ETYMOLOGY:
From German Gesundheit (health), from gesund (healthy) + -heit (-hood). Earliest documented use: 1914.

USAGE:
"'A friend was on an Aeroflot flight crossing Russia when the woman next to him sneezed. He said 'Gesundheit!' She said: 'Thank goodness, someone who speaks English.'"
Peter Spencer; Column 8; The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia); Jul 23, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. -Voltaire, philosopher (1694-1778)

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