"There's this woman I know who only says 'Bless' after you sneeze. Instead of 'Bless you.'"
"I'm sure the 'you' is implied."
"How can you be sure? Getting into Heaven is probably very competitive. You don't think the Heaven Committee is looking for technicalities like that so they can ding you? Isn't it possible they're just waiting to laugh in the face of some dink who says 'the you is implied'?"
"I don't think that's how it works."
"Why wouldn't it work like that? If humans are cast in God's image, and we're all a bunch of bureaucratic backbiters, why wouldn't the cherabim be as well?"
"Wouldn't the 'Bless' be an all-inclusive "Bless,' applying to everyone within earshot?"
"Possibly, but why not spend the extra syllable and direct the blessing where it's most needed--at the poor slob who just blew his soul out of his nostrils?"
"Perhaps she felt it more polite not to single that poor slob out among the crowd."
"All I'm saying is, there'd be a lot less left to chance if she'd bother to expend the energy for a goddamned object pronoun."
"You're a very strange person."
"I'm sure the 'I love you' is implied."
