"Don't you just hate it when your boogers freeze?"
— Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
A character sneezes from being cold. Maybe he's outside in a blizzard or in an arctic setting, or maybe has been trapped in a freezer. Maybe the character has been walking in the rain. He might also have been pushed into a fountain, pool, etc. and his clothes are completely soaked and he's standing there shivering. This may or may not mean the character is getting sick; he might start sneezing in the cold environment but then stop once he warms up.
See also Catch Your Death of Cold, for the durable old wives' tale that going out in the cold makes you catch a cold.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Nipper & Gramophone's Christmas Tales: Gramophone of all characters sneezes snow into Nipper's face in the second teaser
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Anime & Manga
- Black Butler: Ciel sneezes after being submerged in icy water when the Campania is sinking, prompting Sebastian to fuss over him and Ciel to frantically shush him since Lizzie is nearby.
- Happens to Lucy in her Nyu form after being out in the rain in Elfen Lied and happens to Kohta later on as well.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Happens to Ash Ketchum after falling into a river in the movie Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.
- In Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl Adventure! Candice sneezes from the cold. Considering she lives in Snowpoint but wears a skirt and doesn't bother to put on her sweater, it seems pretty logical. In an omake she's shown having a cold.
- Haruka sneezes after falling into a lake in Rahxephon.
- In Episode 7 of Smile PreCure!, when Miyuki complains that Reika's suggestion for a base is too cold, Candy and Yayoi sneeze to punctuate this statement.
- In Inuyasha, Kagome sneezes after being caught in the rain for a while. Used for an episode of filler as Kagome really does get sick, and Inuyasha goes to Kagome's time to take care of her.
- Happens twice in the manga of The Cat Returns, first when Haru walks out into the street to meet the cats, then again when she wakes up the next morning, having fallen asleep uncovered. The latter one appears in the film, though the cause is changed in the English dub to be an allergy to the cat-tails planted in her garden.
- In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero's Journey, the Creature Under the Stairs does this upon encountering a snowstorm in Christmas Town. As he has flammable breath, the sneeze combined with Igor's lighter clears a path for the group to get to Christmas Town proper.
- Done by a few characters in episode 40 of Jewelpet Sunshine, since the episode involves Jewelland freezing over. When Ruby first sneezes from how cold it is, her snot freezes too.
- Seitokai Yakuindomo: Takatoshi catches a cold within seconds of giving up his umbrella. Freeze Sneeze ensues... and Takatoshi winds up bedridden for a whole day on the next episode.
Asian Animation
- Boonie Bears: In Season 5 episode 39, it's so cold outside that Logger Vick sneezes a few times as he settles down in his chair and turns on his television.
- In Season 10 episode 23 of Happy Heroes, the first thing Careless S. does when the Supermen enter the Slippy-Slidey Ice World is sneeze.
- In Pleasant Goat Fun Class: The Earth Carnival episode 7, when the gang arrives at the mesosphere, the drop in temperature is enough to make Wolffy sneeze and shiver.
Comic Books
Fan Works
- Everyday Craziness in Pontypandy:
- In "No Power, No Problem", the power goes out on a cold night, making the house lose indoor heating. The ensuing chill makes Elvis wake himself up with a sneeze.
- In "A Story for Lily", after falling headfirst into the sea, Ben is a bit sneezy from the chill.
- In Star Of Wonder Star Of Night, Yuni sneezes when a snowflake lands on her nose.
- In Twinkling in the Dark, Joker sneezes after getting doused in cold water.
- In A Voice Among the Strangers, Jessica sneezes while showering in the rain. Ebony takes the hint and proceeds to start a fire for them in the cave.
Films — Animation
- An American Tail: Fievel sneezes when he first washes up on shore, soaking wet, after being Lost at Sea.
- Balto: When Balto is trapped under an ice floe, Muk and Luk dive into the water to save him from drowning, and the anxious Boris sticks his head underwater to look for them. He comes up with his head encased in ice, then sneezes, shattering it.
- Beauty and the Beast: Belle's father Maurice sneezes after coming into the castle out of the rain.
- At the end of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Peaches sneezes from a snowflake that she catches in her trunk.
- Pinocchio: Geppetto and Figaro both sneeze while in the cold, wet belly of Monstro the Whale, as does Pinocchio when he joins them there. Of course soon afterward, they escape by inverting this trope and making Monstro sneeze from a smoky fire.
Films — Live-Action
- In Pride & Prejudice (2005), when Jane is made by her mother to visit Mr. Bingley via horseback, in the rain, she sneezes as soon as the doors are opened for her. This leads to us learning that she became ill because of the journey.
- Chunk of The Goonies briefly sneezes as he's stuck inside the Fratellis' freezer; Ma Fratelli blesses him on her way out of the room.
- In The Great Muppet Caper, Miss Piggy starts sneezing after she soaks herself in the fountain at the fashion show. The villainous Nicky takes the opportunity to bring her coat to warm her up... just after he slips Lady Holiday's stolen necklace into said coat's pocket to frame Piggy for the theft.
- In Madeline, Madeline has a sneezing fit after being rescued from drowning in the Seine. It's not clear if it's just this trope or Catch Your Death of Cold, since Miss Clavel puts her to bed and makes her stay home from the girls' next walk, but she doesn't show any other symptoms.
Music
- Johnny Desmond's 1955 rendition of "Sleigh Ride" humorously ends with this trope.
Chorus: Gesundheit, John!
Puppet Shows
- Sesame Street: Two classic Ernie and Bert sketches end with Bert sneezing because Ernie's Cloud Cuckoo Lander behavior leaves him exposed to bad weather. One has the two of them in the rain, with Ernie carrying the only umbrella and letting Bert get soaked because he's too busy talking about his own feelings about the rain to think to share the umbrella with him. The other has Ernie take Bert's hat and scarf to put on a snowman they've built, despite Bert's attempts to explain that the snowman isn't alive and doesn't need protection from the cold.
Video Games
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Maya sneezes from the cold air at Gourd Lake Woods, triggering Lotta's camera (if visiting the area with the metal detector).
- In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, she does this again when she, Wright and Pearl arrive at Hazakura Temple.
- In Animal Crossing: New Leaf your character will sneeze after you get out of the sea after diving if it's winter or fall.
- Luigi's Mansion: Miss Petunia does this after Luigi turns her shower to cold. Averted in the sequel despite it having snow and ice areas, since it was developed by a North American company and has less Japanese tropes than the original.
- Zack & Wiki: Zack, who wears an open sleeveless coat with no shirt and shorts throughout the game, shivers, sneezes and huddles for warmth whenever he's not doing anything in the Ice World.
- In some 3D The Legend of Zelda games, one of Link's Idle Animations is sneezing in cold areas.
- Metal Gear:
- Metal Gear Solid: Johnny gets a cold after Meryl steals his clothes and leaves half-naked on the ground. If Snake submits to Ocelot's torture, Snake will catch a cold and start sneezing all over the place, which can get him caught easily. The medicine to counter this is in one of the cubicles in the big office before the room where he fights Psycho Mantis.
- Happens to Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. When he's sneaking around inside the chilly portion of Arsenal Gear without his gear, he can contract a cold and start sneezing, alerting the guards to his presence. A medicine capsule he can find in the locker after getting out of his restraints can counteract this condition.
- In Yume Nikki, when Madotsuki uses the Towel effect (which huddles her up in a towel in a manner similar to a cozy blanket) she sneezes.
- Pokémon:
- In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, your partner sneezes from the cold on the way to Frosty Forest.
- In Pokémon Platinum, you run into Maylene outside Snowpoint City, which she has apparently walked to from Veilstone, in bare feet and in her usual outfit. Unsurprisingly, she sneezes, although she tries to brush it off, claiming she isn't cold at all. She's later seen shivering in the Pokemon Center.
- Cubchoo has a large teardrop-shaped frozen snot drip from its nose. After it evolves into Beartic, it forms a beard of ice.
- Lynne from Ghost Trick does this in the rain, and it's adorable. She gets another one during the submarine chapter if the water starts to catch up with them.
Web Comics
- Happens to N in Black Adventures when he's wearing an especially short dress.
Western Animation
- Animaniacs: In the song "What Are We?" Dr. Scratchensniff sneezes from the cold when the Warners briefly turn themselves into penguins and his office into the South Pole.
- In an old Merrie Melodies cartoon starring a dog and a skunk, both characters catch a cold from being in freezing cold water. The cartoon ends when both characters share the same bed because they're both so stuffed up (and sneezing) that the dog can't smell the Skunk's stench.
- Happens to Karen on the Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman Christmas Special.
- In the Evil Con Carne episode Bring Me the Face of Hector Con Carne; when the main characters go to Antarctica to find Con Carne's missing face (it makes sense in context), General Skarr curses the cold weather and then sneezes from it. The weather is cold enough to freeze the resulting spray in midair.
- Kaeloo: In Episode 160, it's snowing outside and Mr. Cat starts sneezing from the cold. A couple of scenes later, he's perfectly fine.
- The Owl House: In "Escaping Expulsion", King comes down with a cold and sneezes a couple of times after Eda and Lilith rescue him from being trapped inside the icy super-glyph.
- In The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "Power Lunch", Ace from the Gangreen Gang gets ice powers from the girls' heat vision after eating frozen treats at the mini-mart; he shivers and then sneezes, blowing out a gust of icy wind that completely frosts over a nearby garbage can.
- On an episode of The Simpsons, Lisa is pushed into a freezer to get a carton of ice cream that Homer can't reach; she sneezes and then gets sick.
- It also happens to Dick Dastardly on Wacky Races, near the end of "The Ski Resort Road Race" and in the first half of "The Great Cold Rush Race".
- In the Madeline episode Madeline and the Forty Thieves, the girls' miserably cold, windy day at the zoo includes this Call-Back to the original book and special:
Narrator: And to the tiger, turning blue, Madeline could only say...
Madeline: Achoo! - At the end of the Silly Symphony of The Grasshopper and the Ants, Hop the Grasshopper sneezes – a reminder that he was just narrowly saved from freezing because of his own laziness.
- Steven Universe: In "Winter Forecast", Connie sneezes once after having walked through a blizzard for several hours. Her mother, in full Overprotective Parent mode, immediately freaks out and drags her off to bed, vowing to not let her out of the house until winter's over.
Dr. Maheswaren: She's sick!
- In the Steven Universe: Future episode "Snow Day", Steven gets a runny nose and sneezes a few times from being outside in a winter storm without a coat. It stops as soon as he puts the jacket on.
- Thomas & Friends: In "The Big Freeze", as Thomas is suffering from the cold due to running out of coal, he sneezes and shoots a squirrel out of his funnel.
