Someone drastically changing sneezing habits

[The Mute Poet]

Have any of you ever met someone who made a sudden, conscious effort to drastically change the sound/type of their sneeze?

I remember once in high school there was this one girl who would sneeze fairly frequently and whenever she did they'd be along the lines of "Eh... AHH-CHOO!" - quite loud and powerful, though still decently feminine. She also pretty frequently commented on her sneezes and I (being of the bolder sort by then) was lucky enough to talk with her about them on a few occasions. I remember her telling me how she absolutely hated her sneeze, and that when her dog was a puppy she absolutely scared the crap out of it by sneezing near it, and that from then on whenever it saw her start to build up for a sneeze (here she did an incredibly-acted buildup) it would run and hide.

Anyhow, she continued sneezing in that same pattern for about 3 years of so, and then suddenly, much to my surprise, started up with a completely different "Aaa-chmph" where she'd pinch her nose and make practically no sound for the second part. This served to make her sneezes pretty much nearly undetectable as compared to her previous ones, and just surprised me with how drastic a change had occurred. The only thing I could think of was that she'd finally consciously acted on her dislike for her original sneezes and purposely tried to quiet them down - sadly, quite effectively.

Has anyone else ever encountered anyone attempting such a drastic change in their sneezing habits?

[gryffin]

For me it was exactly the other way round - until three or four years ago I would just stifle completely by pinching my nose shut. Then I stopped bothering (I don't sneeze too loudly anyway), I don't know whether it happened for fetish-related reasons or not.

[telltale]

Lol at the scaredy cat puppy!

I actually personally changed the way I sneeze sometime in the past few years, at least in public. I hate sneezing in front of people. I get embarrassed, and my regular sneeze sounds kind of harsh and unfeminine to my own ears, so that embarrasses me too. I also hate when people bless me. So now if I have to sneeze in public I do this vocalized, kind of exaggerated super-girly sneeze. It sounds counter-intuitive, because people notice it, but I pretty much never get blessed anymore; I just get amused laughter or "your sneeze is so cute!" which I don't mind nearly as much.

[Thorne]

My wifey has a friend who all of a sudden drastically changed her sneeze. She made it super dramatic, girly and somewhat child like. I only really noticed it was really different when my wife told me that it irritated the hell out of her.

[atchoum]

To stifle or not to stifle, that may be part of the question ! Fortunately most people seem to follow the trend that Gryffin reports: most seem to stifle less as time goes by.

I can think of several people I have known for a long time who used to stifle and who no longer do so (to my delight in almost every case). I don’t think I can think of anyone who have actually become stiflers. Of course there are those intermediary cases of people who sometimes stifle, according to the situation, but I think they generally fit into the same trend as well, and tend to stifle less as they get older.

One case in point is a friend of mine who always stifled, even when he was alone (or thought he was alone), and who suddenly failed to stifle recently when he had a heavy cold, including over a dinner at a restaurant and when we were driving home in a small car afterwards (again to my delight).

Another take on this is the number of sneezes a person usually has, and I find this can change over the years, and go both ways. I can think of at least one person who no longer seems to sneeze in triples (alas!) and anthor I never heard more than a single for who now has the occasional straggling fit of 3 or 4.

One SF friend maintains that you tend to sneeze more as you get older, so I suppose that is one consolation!

[plzsneeze]

well yes i had a friend who was not a stifler but when we were in a class together she would sit besides me and stifle whenever the lecture was on. One day i gathered the courage to ask her the reason, and she gave a sheepish smile in return. After that she stopped stifling in the class much to my amusement and delight !!

[Vetinari]

suddenly, much to my surprise, started up with a completely different "Aaa-chmph" where she'd pinch her nose and make practically no sound for the second part.

I did exactly this at primary school because I didn't like to draw attention to myself by sneezing. It was only as an adult that I suddenly discovered I could stifle silently without holding my nose. And then after years of doing that I finally had to undo all that and start to sneeze properly again which was actually very daunting and occasionally in certain situations I will stifle, even when it was not my initial intention to do so.

[count tiszula]

Some years of obsiding have suggested to me that sneezes may change several times; first around puberty many boys who have hitherto sneezed like girls develop a bigger, masculine sneeze; obviously because their little lungs have grown [and indeed many ladies too have reported this ]. Then at an unspecified age when people grow into their adult bodies, perhaps around 30, there is another burst of increased enormousness; and my own suspicion is that whereas many girls continue to sneeze the classic unvoiced girly sneeze till then, they may then develop a louder, voiced and sometimes more violent sneeze...

[sneezybreezy]

I agree with count!

Mine are intensifying throughout the years and when I don't like how it sounds I change it up on a regular basis.

I usually don't like when others change thier sneeze unless I didn't like it to begin with.

[peach2218]

When I coached cheerleading at a nearby college, one of my cheerleaders would sneeze really obnoxiously and not feminine at all and the minute we were outside where the football team was practicing, all of a sudden she would sneeze so girly and draw all kinds of attention to her. Very obvious attention getting behaivor. Annoyed me to death!

[atchoum]

Some years of obsiding have suggested to me that sneezes may change several times; first around puberty many boys who have hitherto sneezed like girls develop a bigger, masculine sneeze; obviously because their little lungs have grown [and indeed many ladies too have reported this ]. Then at an unspecified age when people grow into their adult bodies, perhaps around 30, there is another burst of increased enormousness; and my own suspicion is that whereas many girls continue to sneeze the classic unvoiced girly sneeze till then, they may then develop a louder, voiced and sometimes more violent sneeze...

Once again, the Count has made some very astute observations (telescoping observing and obsession to give obsiding?), here of how sneezing habits change as people get older. I have long noticed that people’s sneezing style changes as they get older, but this three phase change he mentions may well be quite correct.

However it does seem to be a blunt instrument, and quite a few mature men and women go on sneezing rather like children, the “atishoo” sneeze. I recently saw the husband of a friend of mine who must be close to 60, who is a former rugby player and a big, massive man, but the only time I heard him sneeze, quite recently, I was surprised it was quite a dainty “hetTSCHEEW!” I also reported some time ago hearing a male sneeze in an airport and thought it came from an old man who just couldn’t care less about the people around him, but when I looked round it turned out to be a Scotsman (well, as man in a kilt) of no more than 25. He sneezed another completely laryngeal sneeze while I was looking, so I was sure he was the sneezer. But by and large, these sneezes where the sound comes mostly or exclusively from laryngeal constriction seems to be characteristic of older men.

Lung capacity is certainly a factor (explaining the yelled sneezes you hear on building sites) but I wonder if the most important single factor is not the strength of the sneeze reflex itself – how tight the sneeze spring is set, so to speak.