Men of the Lounge: Please explain the spitting thing to me

[dawgmom]

I really, really want to hear your thoughts on this. While I know that not ALL men spit in public, I do note that the act of spitting outdoors seems isolated to the male of the species. I do not understand this need to spit, and I frankly find it pretty gross. There can't be a biological reason. Men don't produce more saliva, nor are they incapable of swallowing it. If I have mucous in my throat, I swallow it. Why do many men feel the need to hock up a loogie and then spit it out?

I should point out that this thought didn't enter my mind randomly. I was walking up the sidewalk to work this morning, and a guy walking in front of me spat loudly onto the grass.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure -- yes, I swallow. I don't spit.

[flvegan]

1. "Also, in the interest of full disclosure -- yes, I swallow."

:popcorn:

[dawgmom]

2. I know....sex thread, right?

How can I alter it so it won't get nuked?

[KitchenWitch]

10. Get your mind out of my gutter!

:P

[flvegan]

12. You're the one with the new videocamera.

[KitchenWitch]

14. Well, get to doing something worth recording...

:evilgrin:

[dawgmom]

16. Umm...excuse me. Could you two please get a room or something?

;)

[KitchenWitch]

23. Hey, nobody tells ME to get a room!

:P

It is usually me telling other folks to get a room!

:rofl:

[dawgmom]

48. So, I get to be your first?

In a manner of speaking.....:rofl:

[rcrush]

3. I only do it when I smoke cigarettes.

Something about tobacco smoke makes me want to spit.

[TZ]

4. .

I have occasionally spit in public. If I'm getting in or out of a car and I don't have a kleenex handy...I have an easy gag reflex though..sometimes swallowing would be worse for me...

[dawgmom]

5. OK, that "easy gag reflex" thing...

...is just inviting pev responses. I'm thinking this thread is doomed. ;)

[TZ]

7. I know.

DuStrange is gonna have a field day with that one.....:rofl:

[NewJeffCT]

20. I think more than DuStrange

will have a field day with it... or, maybe the easy gag reflex will mean they won't?

[TZ]

33. I could also say...

That salty flavored things DON'T trigger my gag reflex...(sorry dawgmom)

[NewJeffCT]

37. oh my

I think this thread may go down in DU history...


:evilgrin:

yes, the pun was intended.

[susanna]

87. Nicely done...pun. LOL n/t

[dawgmom]

40. STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!!

You are going to kill my thread, and before I get a proper explanation.

;)

[Dr. Strange]

93. /-\-/-\-/-\-/-\

[dawgmom]

94. I don't think she'll see this

This reaction may require a new thread....
Jus' sayin'....

[TZ]

96. .

Glad I could be of service.....*cough* :evilgrin:

[Lucian]

6. I spit but I don't.

If you catch my drift. ;)

In all seriousness, I don't know why males spit. That's not something I do because I find it to be totally disgusting.

[dawgmom]

8. Doomed. This thread is doomed.

;)

[hippywife]

9. I find it terribly disgusting, too.

I would rather watch someone vomit that watch them launch a loogie. I don't know why it grosses me out so much more than anything else. I just hate it! :puke:

Back in jr. high, there were also some girls who would spit, but not randomly. They would spit ON other girls they didn't like. That is so uncalled for.

[dawgmom]

15. Oh, now I'm completely grossed out.

Spitting on someone else is one of the vilest things I can think of. Ugh.

[crispini]

11. Hint: Don't go to China....

Just sayin'.....

[dawgmom]

13. Really? I didn't know that about China. Ugh.

[NewJeffCT]

24. They had a massive public education effort prior to the Olympics

to get people to stop spitting in public.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

25. I posted below about college students and I did notice that...

the Chinese students were well represented among the spitters.

[JVS]

17. Men don't usually carry purses or kleenex.

As a result if we have a bit of a runny nose the best way to cope while walking along is to snorts, hawk, and spit.

Also we have big manly snot that makes swallowing difficult.

[dawgmom]

22. Unh uh. Not buying it.

You don't carry a handkerchief? This guy walking in front of me wasn't in casual attire. He was wearing a business suit.

My husband carries a handkerchief no matter what he's wearing. Hmmm. Maybe this is a generational thing.

[JVS]

54. Hell no I don't carry a snotty rag around with me.

[dawgmom]

57. I'm thinking there is more of a repulsion to body fluids thing at work here

While I certainly wouldn't want a lot of exposure to somebody else's mucous (which is in line with my objection to the whole spitting thing), I'm not repulsed by my own mucous, or "snot" as you call it.

[susanna]

88. You may be onto something there (about generations).

I washed and ironed my Dad's handkerchiefs all the time as a kid back in the 70s and 80s (my chore was laundry). My husband, who is 1) slightly older than me and 2) exceedingly proper and incredibly courteous, carries a couple of tissues in his pocket; no handkerchiefs. Though the funny thing is that his father still carries them. Interesting, that observation!

I think I will buy hubby some handkerchiefs for Christmas. I bet he will like them, just probably never thought about it. Of course, he doesn't hawk and spit in public, either. I guess he must suffer silently just to be polite. :-)

on edit: qualifier

[NewJeffCT]

18. I don't spit in public very often

especially if i'm around family.

sometimes, I can't help it, though, if I'm cough up a bit of flem, I figure it's better to spit it out than swallow it.

[dawgmom]

26. OK, that's what I want to try and understand

And really, I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I just sincerely want to try and understand the thought process. Why exactly do you "figure it's better to spit it out than swallow it." Are you repulsed by your own phlegm? Seriously, if I cough up phlegm, I just swallow it.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

28. If you swallow, you can't pretend your a football player on the sidelines.

[dawgmom]

31. Hmmm. So, it's a male-identifier thing

A conditioned behavior.

[NewJeffCT]

34. No

Due to allergies, sometimes what I cough up can irritate my throat and/or cause an inflammation

[dawgmom]

39. Hmm. OK. Thanks.

Thanks for explaining that. So, that appears to be one possible explanation. Of course, it still doesn't explain why I rarely if ever see women spit in public. Surely many women also have allergies.

But again, thanks for sharing an explanation.

[NewJeffCT]

43. women are more civilized?

they don't pass gas as often in public, either...

[dawgmom]

46. Oh, I don't think that's true

Passing gas is just a normal function, and depends on your diet and your gastro-intestinal tract. I don't think men have a monopoly on that.

Women may just be a little more discreet about it. (Or better at blaming other people.) :)

[NewJeffCT]

53. maybe women are more discreet about spitting, too?

just a guess.

[gblady]

19. I'm right there with you....

on the not understanding this phenomena...
simply beyond my comprehension....

where are the explainations???
come on guys!

[dawgmom]

30. I know...nobody is explaining it

And I really want to understand it. Is it conditioning, as in, seen as being masculine -- something that was conditioned into them? Or are they repulsed by the idea of swallow phlegm?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

21. I noticed the practice pick up about 7-8 years ago among students at our college.

All of a sudden the smoking area became the smoking and spitting area-- some kids would come out just to spit! It was so disgusting it ultimately became one of the reasons I quit smoking.

[hippywife]

27. That could probably be attributed to

the uptick in young men using smokeless tobacco. My brother did that for awhile and would spit anywhere in the grass during family gatherings until his sisters put a stop to that. Guys, carry a damn cup or pop can or something. Ugh!

Not to mention what I notice as an increase in inconsiderate behaviour among people. It's like they're the only person in the world, let alone the immediate area. :eyes:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

32. I don't think that was it. You can smell that stuff from the far side of a cow patch.

I think these kids just wanted to spit while they talked as an affectation.

[dawgmom]

36. It could be a smokeless tobacco thing...

...but I work in an environment where I can guarantee you that there are almost no smokeless tobacco users, so I don't think that was the case with this particular person.

The inconsiderate behavior thing, I tend to agree. Don't even get me started on people who talk on cell phones in restaurants.

[hippywife]

41. I really am noticing such an increase

in total cluelessness on how to behave in the presence of other people, whether it be in the workplace, shopping, or driving...that last one is almost the worse area.

[dawgmom]

45. Let me tell you a story

This is about the indiscriminate use of profanity. Let me preface this by saying that I am not a prude about profanity. When the occasion calls for it, I definitely drop the F-bomb. However, I find that more and more, I am offended by the indisriminate use of profanity in the public sphere, and the way it coarsens our society. Just recently, I was in a restaurant with my 85 year old mother. At the table next to us, there were three young men, one of whom was peppering his conversation with frequent uses of the F-word. I just found it to be very disrespectful, especially towards my mother. After about the 20th utterance, I had had enough. I got up, walked over, and leaned over their table and said, "I would appreciate it if you would watch your language. It's offensive both to me, and especially to my Mom. Thanks."

The funny thing is, he blushed about 12 shades of red, and apologized. I really think he was completely unaware of it -- it was just so ingrained in his speech patterns.

[hippywife]

49. No doubt their parents

never took the time to properly train them to have any manners.

[dawgmom]

51. Well, as I said, he apologized

And he was clearly embarassed, so somewhere in his consciousness, he knew he had...dare I say it...fucked up.

I just think profanity has become so commonplace in our culture, that many people don't give it a second thought. Or, as you have indirectly suggested, nobody ever took the time to explain to them that "there's a place and a time..."

[gblady]

55. whoa.....now.....

I wouldn't place it all at the feet of the parents...
I have two sons, age 19 and 22...

I raised them well, IMHO... they are well behaved and mannerly...

yet, the younger one, while he is a great kid...
cusses like a trooper...sometimes every other word starts with F...
drives me nuts...and, though he doesn't live with me, I still talk with him about it,
saying how offensive it is to me and folks of my generation...

he will stop....and he doesn't talk like that around family gatherings or with family friends...

but his claim is that I make much too big a deal out of the usage of words...
and he advises me to chillax a bit...

[dawgmom]

59. I think it's a rite of passage

Young people and cussing. It's like they think they invented it -- just like they think they invented sex. :)

[hippywife]

60. I wasn't referring so much to the cussing

as I was to the lack of consideration given to people around them. The lack of thought that there might be people around them that it would offend.

Like the OP, I do cuss at times, too, and do occasionally drop the F-bomb, but I do take the split second necessary to access the situation and the people around me first.

:hi:

[redqueen]

29. Brilliantly worded, that last line.

:thumbsup:

I hardly notice it. Maybe it's because there's a lot of people who chew tobacco around here, so it's pretty common.

[dawgmom]

42. Huh? (She said, innocently.)

;)

[leftofthedial]

35. pardon me?

I couldn't hear you. I was scratching my nuts.

[dawgmom]

38. L...O...L

You made me do that lol thing.

[gblady]

56. another male phemonena..

that defies understanding...

[dawgmom]

58. Absolutely

Like I've never wanted to scratch my crotch? Let them try and deal with the itch of pubic hair growing back in. That gives a whole new meaning to the word "itch."

[leftofthedial]

72. spoken like someone without nuts

;-)

[Tektonik]

44. If I have a cold, I spit

I try to do it when people aren't looking, but if I don't have a tissue or napkin, I will spit that mucus into the gutter.

[dawgmom]

47. A re-post of my response from above

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I just sincerely want to try and understand the thought process. Why exactly do you spit out the mucous rather than swallowing it? Are you repulsed by your own phlegm? Seriously, if I cough up phlegm, I just swallow it.

[Tektonik]

65. The idea of keeping germ carrying phlegm in my body isn't appealing

[dawgmom]

67. Wow. That's fascinating.

Thanks.

[crispini]

50. As a girl, I'll tell you sometimes when I spit..

it's pretty much exclusive to heavy exercise, i.e. cycling, running, etc. Mouth gets dry and sometimes it's just hard to swallow. I suspect this is why athletes do it, and I suspect the mens I see doing it are performing an hommage ;) to said athletes.

Or, chaw.

Not me, now. Guys.

[dawgmom]

52. Thanks.

Thanks for that perspective.

[Runcible Spoon]

95. ditto, I'm a girl and I'll spit during a game

for all the reasons you stated

[harmonicon]

61. it's just what you do with the excess liquid/phlegm

You swallow it?! Gross!!!

[dawgmom]

64. Phlegm and saliva are going down your throat all day, every day

There's nothing gross about consciously swallowing it. It's mine, after all. It's interesting to hear your comment, however. I think I understand now that that's what it's about for some people. They are repulsed by the idea of it.

Question: when you're in a business setting, and you clear your throat, what do you do? Clearing your throat is the same thing as hocking up a loogie, except on a smaller scale. You don't swallow?

[harmonicon]

68. business?! Me?! Surely, you jest.

If I can't hock up a loogie in front of someone, that's a someone I don't need to be around.

[dawgmom]

69. All righty then. n/t

[Deja Q]

62. I'm confused. You swallow saliva? Or something else?

[dawgmom]

66. In the interest of not getting the thread locked...

...the question on the table is, why do some people spit out excess saliva or phlegm, while others just swallow it?

[pokerfan]

63. Nice people swallow

(Mean people suck)

[latebloomer]

70. I've noticed a macho aspect to it.

I remember years ago I had a black boyfriend (I'm white). We were walking and a group of vaguely threatening-looking white teens were approaching us. My boyfriend spit and I felt he was trying to show them he was tough. I don't think he really had anything to spit out.

And I've seen others, particularly young men, doing this, and there's often a tough-guy feel that goes with it.

[dawgmom]

75. Interesting.

Thanks for your comment. I agree that there may be situations when it is a sort of dominance or posturing thing.

[marzipanni]

92. Heh, if the guy was a canine he'd lift his leg

but that would be totally unacceptable, so getting rid of fluid from another orifice suffices. Maybe it's a form of marking one's territory. ;)
on edit-(oops, hadn't see bluesbassman's post yet- should have known someone else would have said this by now!)

[Midlodemocrat]

71. This thread is revolting. I'm sorry I clicked it. Hide Thread going into action, pronto.

[Schema Thing]

73. We're just really mad all the time, that's all.

[dawgmom]

78. Aha. Expelling fluids = anger.

I suppose that's where "pissed off" came from. :)

[peruban]

74. Don't rightly know.

I get disgusted when I cough something up so I just expectorate it, swallowing it just grosses me out. Why swallow something your lungs didn't want to keep? I don't think that's much of an answer but there we go.

[bluesbassman]

76. Well, it's a territorial thing. Just marking our turf.

See, we've evolved into bipeds, we can no longer hike up our leg and mark a tree. Spitting is the natural progression. :)

[dawgmom]

77. I see this emerging as one of the top two answers.

1. "It's a male dominance thing."
2. "Swallowing my own saliva/phlegm is disgusting."

Thanks. ;)

[Pierre.Suave]

79. I dont spit, it is gross and disgusting

and I only see gross and disgusting people doing it.

[dawgmom]

80. Well, the guy this morning wasn't gross and disgusting

However, I was pretty grossed out by what he did. Enough that it prompted me to post this.

Thanks for not spitting. :)

[Pierre.Suave]

81. Yes he is

only a gross and disgusting person would spit.

[dawgmom]

82. OK, I understand your point.

Again, thanks for not spitting. :)

[gristy]

83. I once saw a young lady outside the DMV spit right on the sidewalk not 10 ft from the door

I asked her "Are you ok?" She looked at me like I was from another planet. Go figure.

[Pierre.Suave]

84. A LADY would not spit

she was simply female.

[quakerboy]

85. Read this if you spit

So, I've never been a huge spitter. But when i was a younger man, I thought its what manly men did, so I was trying to learn.

Right around that time, I worked on a "muck out crew". Cleaning homes for the elderly and disabled. We got a Job working with a very nice old man who's family wanted his house cleaned when he was in the hospital.

The walls had a ring at about the 2-3 foot mark. You see, nice old man had a bit of the dementia, and while he had a lifelong spitting habit, he had forgotten you don't do it inside.

I don't spit anymore. I don't want to forget. Do you?


Edited to add that my wife finds my not spitting disgusting. She finds the idea of swallowing phlegm to be quite disgusting

[MrSlayer]

86. Because I want to get rid of the phlegm, not keep it.

It's disgusting to hack up a big ball of mucus and then swallow it. Yick.

[TK421]

89. It's just something I do and I don't give much thought to it, I suppose

but I find I do it more often when I'm drinking or smoking, if that helps :shrug:

Although there have been times when someone was walking towards me and decides to spit...I can't tell if that is a macho thing or what, but now you got me thinking

[krispos42]

90. If the point is reached...

...where the normal biologial process of returning mucus and spit to the body fails, i.e., we hack up something viscous and/or chunky, well, it was hacked up for a reason: out body wants it out!

So we oblige.

If possible.

[RandomThoughts]

91. Historical context.

Well this may not be of help, but for cultural refrences, we have

the spitting image of a person. Spoken of in a few culturals.

In a 17th century work, John Partridge, a supposed astrologer, cites an example of a variant of the expression from around 1400 C.E.: "He's...as like these as th'hads't spit him." We find later versions of this phrase throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, all involving spit and some even mentioning spit out of his mouth in reference to the look-a-like. It seems that spit and image and spirit and image came after spitting image was already in use, so they are likely corruptions made to make more sense of the phrase. Other European languages have similar expressions, which also lends credence to the origin being the idea of spitting a duplicate out of one's mouth. For example, in French it is être le portrait craché de quelqu'un 'to be the spitting image of someone,' and in Norwegian it's som snytt ut av nesen paa 'as blown out of the nose of.'

But to go back a little further you have the Revelations imagary.

I am the one called Amen! I am the faithful and true witness and the source of God's creation. Listen to what I say. 15I know everything you have done, and you are not cold or hot. I wish you were either one or the other. 16But since you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17You claim to be rich and successful and to have everything you need. But you don't know how bad off you are. You are pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
18Buy your gold from me. It has been refined in a fire, and it will make you rich. Buy white clothes from me. Wear them and you can cover up your shameful nakedness. Buy medicine for your eyes, so that you will be able to see.
19I correct and punish everyone I love. So make up your minds to turn away from your sins. 20Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together. 21Everyone who wins the victory will sit with me on my throne, just as I won the victory and sat with my Father on his throne.


Of coarse this is all up to interpretation. What is cold or hot, what is rich, what is successful, what is content and not covetous, what is poor, blind or naked.

but notice how the new king james version uses vomit

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

But the original King James says spew, leaving it to the reader to decide if it be spittle or vomit

14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Yet the new testement also speaks of spittle in a different context. In the book of Mark
22 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. 23 So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.
24 And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”
25 Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 26 Then He sent him away to his house, saying, “Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town.”

So regardless of what we think, we know the issue of to spit or not to spit has been around awhile.

[Withywindle]

97. Ugh, I hate that shit SO MUCH.

It's annoying to have my own gag reflex triggered by a total stranger while minding my own business on the street. :puke:

A guy I was sort of interested in did that in front of me once. My attraction died an instant and permanent death, and I never told him why.

So keep that in mind, guys. That hawking sound you just made? It's also the sound of numerous women immediately thinking, "oh HELL no." :evilgrin:

[dawgmom]

98. I have to say...

...that's true for me also. It would be a deal-breaker. I can even work with back hair, but the hawking thing? Nope.