Transcript of “What You Call it When You Sneeze in the Sun. GeSUNdheit!”
Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, this is John Vanderplew. I’m calling from Norfolk, Virginia.
Hi, John. Welcome to the show. Yeah, thank you. Well, I’ve always been curious since I have to
Sneeze. Remember, I’m out in the sunlight. My siblings do the same thing. And quite a few of
My friends think that’s very bizarre. And I’ve actually done a little research. It seems to be
A thing, and apparently it’s hereditary. So is there a phrase for having to sneeze when you walk
Out in the sunlight? Yes, and I am one of those people as well. I always sneeze twice. What about
You? Just once. Once is O-N-E, but it definitely happens. Well, John, people have been thinking
About this ever since the time of Aristotle, at least. He wrote, why is it that one sneezes more
After one has looked at the sun. If you’ve done some research on this, you probably know that this
Goes by lots of different names. It’s called the photic sneeze reflex. Some people call it pepper
On the sun. There was another researcher who found that three generations of his family did this kind
Of sneeze when you go out into the sun, and his last name is Perutka, so some people call it the
Perutka sneeze. And I think my favorite name for this, and probably Grant’s favorite name as well,
Is autosomal dominant compelling heliophthalmic outburst syndrome.
The acronym for which is ACHOO.
Oh, that’s cute. I like that one.
Yeah, maybe the ACHOO part.
Yeah, yeah, that’s good.
And, you know, some people have a hard time sneezing.
That’s called arrested sternutation.
Oh, and if something is sternutatory, that means that it causes you to sneeze.
Pepper is sternutatory.
Yeah, it comes from the Latin sternuere, which means to sneeze.
And arrested sternutation is sometimes called sneeze freeze, just for short.
That’s easier to say.
That’s very enlightening. I appreciate that.
So, Martha, that was photic sneeze reflex, sometimes called solar sneeze reflex,
Pepper on the sun, achu, which is autosomal dominant compelling heliophthalmolic outburst syndrome.
And did I forget one?
You forgot Perutka sneeze.
Perutka sneeze.
That’s which one you’re going to choose, John.
I like the Perutka sneeze.
I haven’t.
That one is brand new to me.
The Achoo I’ve heard a couple of times.
I forgot about the acronym part, but I’ve heard that long winded one.
That’s why I didn’t remember it.
Yeah.
Well, the Perutka is P-E-R-O-U-T-K-A.
Or, John, you could always go back to Old English.
The old English word for sneeze is fnora, which I really like.
F-N-O-R-A, fnora.
That’s cool.
I like that one, too.
Thank you, John.
We appreciate it.
Take care of yourself.
Yeah, I appreciate everything you do.
All right, take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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