A teacher in Vacaville, Ca. has been reprimanding students for saying “bless you” after someone sneezes in class.

Steve Cuckovich, a health teacher at William C. Wood High School, says he banned the use of the phrase “bless you” in his classroom because it was “disruptive.” 

Cuckovich is so opposed to the post-sneeze courtesy, he once docked a student 25 points from one of his grades for uttering it.

Needless to say, teachers and students are outraged, with some claiming Cuckovich’s ban is anti-religious.

Not so, says the teacher: “It [doesn't have] anything to do with religion. It’s got to do with an interruption of class time,” Cuckovich explained.

Administrators at the school stopped Cuckovich from lowering the grades of students who said “bless you” following complaints from parents. Still, the teacher isn’t backing down from the ban and has vowed to figure out another way to punish those who do use the common phrase.

Generally, when objections to  ”bless you” are raised we recommend the ‘Seinfeld’-ian solution of saying “you’re so good looking” instead. But, in this case, that would likely be even more disruptive.

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