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Chabadoufe's Memoiry Analysis

Decent Essays

Almost every commonplace scenario has a polite phrase that goes alongside it. When someone sneezes, a scattered symphony of “Bless you’s” follows soon afterward. When you receive a gift of kindness, you would respond, “Thank you.” When accepting another’s gratitude, you would say, “You’re welcome.” But what do you say when someone coughs? By normal people’s standards, the answer to that question is nothing at all. After somebody coughs, not a single word is uttered, leaving an empty silence which desires to be filled with something. A while back in middle school, it was this palpable feeling of emptiness which drove me to ponder the nature of this situation. How could there be no phrase to respond to a cough? I soon resolved to come up with my own word or words to use in response of someone else coughing. I thought on possibilities for weeks, but I couldn’t seem to find the right sounds to use. Following a …show more content…

Chabadoufe is more than just an automatic response to the sound of a cough. It holds more meaning than that. When saying chabadoufe, you not only acknowledge that someone has coughed, but also express concern or care for the individual that coughed. It is almost akin to asking, “Are you okay?” since coughing feels very unpleasant and usually is a sign of an even more unpleasant occurrence such as having a cold, sore throat, or something stuck in your throat. With all these thoughts floating around in my head, I decided it would be wrong to share my first response with my friend. Instead of telling her the original generic response I had planned, I said, “Saying chabadoufe is a word used to both acknowledge that a person has coughed and display concern over that person’s well-being and possible malady.” After hearing that, she looked at me a bit strangely, but I was content in providing her with a truthful and complete

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