Open Discussion:
Jezebel’s Brande Victorian has a question for you fellas who spit in public…
WTF is Going On In Your Mouth?
Seeing as public spitting in non-athletic settings does seem to be dominated by men, we’d like to offer the guys of our community the opportunity to explain to the non-spitters of the world why it is that you sometimes gotta hock a loogey.
And to everyone—is public spitting rude or natural?
When is public spitting considered okay?
Photo courtesy of Flickr/thebarrowboy
Spitting on the greens while golfing is NOT cool. Tiger Woods did it a few years ago and got a ton of grief for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj9FVkPJxjg
I spit if I have to, but I am cool about only spitting where it’s acceptable. In the woods. Into a handkerchief. New York is full of people who will do that whole throat clearing fricative for countable seconds before spitting into a pavement where people walk and rats and trying to raise families. If you spit in the woods, it doesn’t make a sound.
People are gonna spit–whatever. Just do it in a way that’s not disgusting: in a bush, without a nasty snorting mucus sound (yuck), not in a street, not near anyone, etc. People need to be a little bit better at discretion.
I tend to spit sometimes–usually if I’m drinking–but I hate the feeling of being seen as gross, so I do it out of sight.
Most of the time I just head for the bathroom/tissue/nearest trash can. Even when I smoke (for some reason when I smoke I have to spit more, is that just me?) I can find a safe spot to fire away.
Playing ball, golf, baseball, football, whatever, if its out on a field yeah sure I fire away. But I am disgusted when I walk down the street and see someone walking by, spit on the ground nearby, so I take careful consideration not to do that in public or in the presence of others, male or female.
As a New Yorker, I can tell you spitting, like sneezing, is all about where your beak is pointing when you eject your lovely effluents. In New York, the more civilized among us spit into the street. The rest do not. Hence the occasional “oyster” on the sidewalk.
Haha, ew at “oyster”!!!
I am thinking spitting is just fine. The old nose clear not so much.
Perhaps we might also bring up the etiquette of spitting while cycling in a group.
Or while running long distances… If one must hock or blow snot rockets, always check who is downwind!
Don’t spit, don’t sneeze on everyone and don’t gob up whatever crud is in the back of your mouth. If you really need to get a tissue and show some respect for those around you.
This. Polite, considerate of others, aware of germs. If you don’t have a tissue, try to be as discreet (and into the street) as possible about it).
WTF is up with the guys who spit into the urinal as soon as they walk up to it? I will never understand that one.
My guess is they know it’s a waste receptical? Where else should they spit?
I’ve gone my whole life without ever spitting into a urinal.
You and me both. I just think it’s disgusting,
I’ve defnintely done this before (a couple of times, not by ritual).
Have you ever been so drunk your mouth starts salivating and you think you’re going to throw up, so you spit to get the saliva out in hopes that you won’t yack. I suspect I may be alone on this one as far as GMP goes, but that’s the only explaination I can give, which I admit doesn’t explain the spitting “as soon as” someone gets to a urinal–that’s kinda odd.
Not sure where this is prevalent, outside of somewhat acceptable surroundings.. The MLB field is NOT one of those places, and I always wondered why. My father informed me in the 70’s they were spitting tobacco juice. Not cool for several reasons… From the back of your tractor may be.okay… All my cotton farmer friends do it. Before anyone rails on me… I am not kidding, and can say these things. I drove cotton bailing equipment for two years and spit my brains out because the dust was unbearable. However, I have yet to do it at the mall, hospital,… Read more »
Gotta say it – it kind of grosses me out. I have always disliked it – especially when guys spit into urinals in public restrooms. To this day, I don’t understand why people do it. I get that sometimes you get phlegm built up in your throat, but spitting isn’t manly. It’s just gross.
This is a sentiment I share, but find funny. Why do I care what someone does in a urinal (so long as it is flushable)? When people forget to flush say the first urinal, but not the second, I’ll choose the second. I realize this is quite silly – worrying about the cleanliness of something in which I’m about to urinate.
Totally. Not related to the topic of spitting, but I don’t understand why men can’t flush in public restrooms. It’s not that hard. But as you said, it just gets dirty again anyway so perhaps I’m overthinking this.
i don’t see a whole lot of men spitting in public so i’m mainly wary of giving the question much credence.
it’s contextual as well – a construction worker walking down the street might have more cause to spit because he’s working around dust and out in the elements (not to mention that he works alongside other men who are doing the same thing, thus making it generally acceptable to just spit whenever). The construction worker is a different case than the businessman who we wouldn’t expect to need to have to spit all the time.
If I’m jogging in the woods I’ll spit. In public, no way. I’ve dribbled far too many basketballs in other people’s phlegm.
Getting a dry mouth can also mean phlemmy yuckyness builds up, so I spit but not around others. Spitting around others is ok in some areas, if you’re walking in the bush for instance and you are spitting away from the track. Nothing like chewing tobacco though, spitting every 3 minutes with a redneck vibe to it:P
I think you’re using the wrong word a couple of times here. Public spitting is manly and disgusting. It’s also rude and natural.
I went through a period where I thought spitting a lot was terribly impressive, but I was twelve.
I find spitting to be revolting. It absolutely disgusts me when I see people spitting, but the worst is when there are gross gobs of spit on the sidewalk. I don’t care what a person does on their own, in private, but please, for the love of all that is holy, stop spitting in front of me in public!!
BLECH!