Sneeze of Doom: Difference between revisions

* One of Andy Griffiths' short stories has Andy and Danny competing to see who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth. They are tied at 20 when Andy's crush Lisa declares (based on a palm reading book Andy had given her for her birthday) that Andy is her soul mate. Andy is suddenly showered with glitter and called on to kiss Lisa. Unfortunately, the glitter gets up his nose, and he sneezes, spraying marshmallows all over the floor, and seemingly ruining his chances with Lisa (until she challenges him to the same competition).

* Used once in Morris Gleitzman's ''Teacher's Pet'', (surprising, as the main character is allergic to cats). Ginger climbs a tree to escape from what she thinks is a savage dog (it isn't) but ends up with her nose too close to a fig flower. The resulting sneeze causes her to fall off the branch landing flat on her back.

* A literal instance, for the archaic meaning of "doom" (i.e. fate), comes from Xenophon's ''[[Anabasis]]''.<ref>On which ''[[The Warriors (film)|The Warriors]]'' is loosely based</ref> After winning the Battle of Cunaxa but ultimately losing because Cyrus the Younger up and got himself killed, and then losing their leadership to a Persian trap, the army of 10,000 Greek mercenaries decides to hold a meeting about what to do. Everyone's sure that they're screwed, but during a quiet moment, somebody sneezes. Loudly. Everyone [[Pose of Supplication|drops to the ground in supplication]] (the Greeks considered a sneeze to be a sign from the gods). Then they get up, elect ten new officers, and decide to start marching their way back to Greece. (They make it, in case you were wondering.)