Saliva Disposal Methods

[Hazel]

Something has long puzzled me. Why do some men feel (and act on) the need to spit on the streets, sidewalks, parks, etc.? I'm not talking about tobacco juice or phlegm. The activity I have observed involves just plain saliva. It seems to be exclusively male behavior; I've never seen a woman do it.

We all produce saliva. It's very natural. But I have never personally experienced any problems in saliva management. I just automatically swallow it. No thinking or planning required. It just happens.

So why do some guys seem to need to spit the stuff out at fairly regular intervals? Is this a genuine need? (Drool avoidance?) Or is it a personal statement of some sort? Are the men who engage in this behavior asserting something? What? Masculinity? Toughness? But what's particularly male or especially tough about saliva? Could it be an expression of contempt? But contempt for what? The particular bit of ground on which their saliva lands? The city or town they are in? The whole universe? Everyone in sight? What if we're all total strangers? What could they have against us? Are these guys dangerous? Is spitting a prelude to running amok?

[Pete]

Sigh...Hazel, Hazel, Hazel. There's no big mystery to it. In the area of extraneous saliva disposal, men are simply smarter than women. Well, at least we're less concerned with what others will think of us and more concerned with getting rid of it.

Yes, some guys spit to make a point. You always picture some cowboy with tight jeans, a big hat, and boots on, with one foot up on a log, spitting as he tells a story. Usually, though, in the non-redneck parts of the country, it's done as an extreme insult to someone who has truly insulted your heritage or family or honor.

But the majority of us just spit because we have to spit. Women have to spit, too, but they're too scared to do it. So they become used to swallowing what was regurgitated for a reason. I suppose it doesn't harm you, except you might get too much fluid in your ears or a nasty taste in your mouth.

But ladies, just spit it out! You know it tastes nasty! If you're too dainty to do it in public, go to a bathroom. Or you could just swallow it, and while you're at it, why don't you just suck back that snot that's hanging out of your nose after you sneeze?

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I don't know who first said "everyone's a critic," but I think it's a really stupid saying.

[Sycorax]

My saliva does not taste nasty. I, too, find this male practice repugnant. To make matters worse, I think it is often more than saliva. I have a male friend who hawks a wad out every now and then, but first snorts like you would to get the nasal mucous in with the saliva. I give him hell about it. I hate walking down the street and seeing a glob of someone's saliva on the sidewalk - yuck.

[Hazel]

My saliva, as far as I can discern, has no taste. There is cirtainly nothing unpleasant about swallowing it.

I'm convinced that guys do this in order to make some sort of statement. Come on, guys, what's this all about? What are you trying to say? Whatever it is, couldn't you put it on a button or bumptersticker?

[EnigmaOne]

{{{...just spit it out! You know it tastes nasty! If you're too dainty to do it in public, go to a bathroom. Or you could just swallow it...}}}---Pete

Uh, I'm wondering if this has strayed from the OP's actual intent?

;)



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--Kalél
(The Original EnigmaOne)
Common ¢ for all ages.

[NanoByte]

So next to the trash and recyclables containers on the streets, we'll put spitoons -- maybe even 'HIS' and 'HERS', although the trend these days is unisex facilities.

Ray (Calls for a spittin' image brought up with UBB code, but I think I'll spit out that idea, before things get too messy here.)

[Babar714]

I am a reformed habit spitter. I've been spit-free for about 3 years now. I don't have to plan my next meal in a restaurant with an easily accessable sidewalk. The carpet in my house is still crusty, but not wet. Now I have plenty of saliva in my mouth to take up another bad habit, like smoking. I owe it all to my sponsor, Carl "Phlegm" Farley. Thank you, Phlegm.

[Mazey]

Pete: But ladies, just spit it out! You know it tastes nasty! If you're too dainty to do it in public...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I've got a blind date tonight, and I was sooo worried about the possibility that I might need to expectorate, and he might now understand. I feel so much better!!

My blind date's name?: 'sPete!

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"There will always be somebody who's never read a book who'll know twice what you know." - D.Duchovny

[BoBettie]

I have to admit- I'm a woman, and I've hocked a loogie. There- I've said it. Actually, I find the practice of spitting disgusting and only once have I been a victim of "Oh, my God, I gotta spit this out" syndrome. I was pulling into a parking lot, and I was quite sick (flu or something). I coughed, and all of a sudden had a mouthfull of (gross stuff deleted here by author)....so I had ZERO choice but to spit it on the ground like a man...But rest assured, it's the only time it's ever happened in 28 years of life...I think guys who stand around just spitting are repulsive.
Oh, And Pete, after that last comment :
<<<<. Do you dip a cup into the toilet and pour your piss back into your vagina?>>>>

I'm seriously worried about you...anyone else??

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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

[handy]

I've seen just as many teenager girls spit as teenage guys.

Why they do it I have no idea. Trying to look cool? Who knows. Seems to just be a phase.

[Pete]

Okay, okay, maybe the piss analogy was a little extreme, but you understand the connection: you're putting back something that your body got rid of for a reason.

And yes, we're talking about the nasty, gooey, sometimes chunky phlegm, not just watery saliva.

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I don't know who first said "everyone's a critic," but I think it's a really stupid saying.

[Kat]

Pete, you may be talking about phlegm, but that is not what the OP's question was about. Note that Hazel said I'm not talking about tobacco juice or phlegm. The activity I have observed involves just plain saliva.

[Pete]

Saliva does not always taste nasty; it does only when one has been eating or drinking that tastes better going down than coming back up. However, that big wad of mucous being forced down your throat is ALWAYS a nasty feeling.

Trust me, there's no special message to it. We've just realized that we need to expectorate. Maybe girls are different. Do you dip a cup into the toilet and pour your piss back into your vagina?

And NanoByte, spi'tten image has nothing to do with spit. It's abbreviated from spiriten image, or "in spirit," meaning that the person bears an uncanny resemblance to a dead person, usually a father or grandfather.

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I don't know who first said "everyone's a critic," but I think it's a really stupid saying.

[mangeorge]

"Do you dip a cup into the toilet and pour your piss back into your vagina?"
---Pete
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??????? You kinda lost me with this one, Pete.
Peace,
mangeorge

[voltaire]

I think there's a little confusion here... I never spit out plain saliva, but I sure do hock loogies if need be. Saliva is just the liquid that accumulates in your mouth that you normally swallow. I have seen people that seem to just spit saliva for no apparent reason, this puzzles me. BUT, when it comes to loogies (i.e. goobers, phlegm, spit-wads) I spit them out without a moments hesitation.
Usually it will be the smokers you see partaking in this activity, as some of the goobers you get from smoking can be downright nasty. Definitely not a substance you want to swallow and keep in your body.

In conclusion, if you've ever had goobers and have never spit them out, try it once, when you see what it is you normally swallow, I doubt you would do so ever again.

[Pete]

Oh, in that case, sometimes our bodies seem to salivate too much, and we just feel the need to get rid of some of it. True, like Hazel wrote, it can be swallowed, but when it gets to the point when you can't talk without the words being gargled by the juice in there, we'd rather spit it out and talk clearly. Still no masculinity or emphasis involved. Sorry to disappoint you.

[Spaceboy]

Actually, as a guy who has been doing this for a while, I notice that we (or at least, I do) often spit into urinals while doing our business. I'm pretty sure women don't do this, obviously since they're sitting down and there's a thigh-commode clearance problem or some such. Frankly, it's not always spit, either. Sometimes it's a big green lugey.

[Catmarie]

it tends to be gunk from your lungs so if you swallow it goes through your digestive system,not back where it came from :)

[Hazel]

Pete, it just doesn't seem that way to me. To me, swallowing whatever saliva comes along is just utterly, completely automatic. If I wanted to spit on the ground, I'd have to "work up" some saliva for the purpose. I'd have to make an effort to accumulate some; it would be an unnatural thing to do.

I've always assumed that the men I see spitting on the ground were putting a cirtain amount of effort into this activity, and that they must be doing so with some purpose in mind; some message they wanted to convey.

Please note that this is not an activity in which one can engage at all times and places. A man may make a habit of spitting while walking downt the street; he may spit from the window of his car or truck; he may spit in urinals. But when indoors, he presumably does not spit other then in urinals -- he doesn't spit in the living room, the office, the classroom the restaurant, the theater. Plainly, it isn't something men have to do; it's something some men choose to do under some circumstances.

[Pete]

No, I spit indoors, too. I just do it into sinks and garbage cans.

Maybe males just salivate more heavily. Probably from looking at food and women.

[Fatal Image]

Just one thought.. it is a remote possibility that the spitters have sore throats, and the spitting of the saliva is more desirable than the painful swallow.

[barton]

If you want to see some really constructive spitting, check out 'The Outlaw Josey Wales'. Josey's classic spits are a one-syllable commentary on everything he encounters, and usually herald a hail of gunfire.

[voltaire]

it tends to be gunk from your lungs so if you swallow it goes through your digestive system,not back where it came from


While I'd concede that this can sometimes be true, I don't think it is the majority of the time. Most of the phlegm that I experience seems to originate in the throat. And if said phlegm is subsequently swallowed, it returns to its point of origin, yes, the throat. This, to me, is perfect reason to hock that loogie right out. <ker-splatt>

[Hazel]

Questions for Pete, and any other spitters who may be reading this -- at aprox what age did you take up spitting? Or have you always done it? If so, when you were a kid, did your parents object to this practice? If you can remember a time in your life when you didn't spit, can you remember what caused you to start? Did you just suddenly develop a need to spit, or did you start doing it because you wanted to convey some message to the word about yourself? If so, what was the message?

[voltaire]

Questions for Pete, and any other spitters who may be reading this -- at aprox what
age did you take up spitting? Or have you always done it? If so, when you were a kid,
did your parents object to this practice?


Yes.


If you can remember a time in your life when
you didn't spit, can you remember what caused you to start?


Smoking. But mine was the loogie spitting variety, not the saliva spitting variety.

[Pete]

Hazel, I didn't start spitting in response to anything. I didn't start to rebel against anything. I didn't start because other people were doing it. I just spat because there was gunk in my mouth. It doesn't mean anything. Yes, some people spit for emphasis. I don't do that. If I want to emphasize a point, I just grab the person I'm talking to by the scruff of his neck and say "now listen up..."

[DougC]

- - - As an (almost) exclusively non-spitting male, I can say that many men do it because they think it looks tough or defiant.
-
- When, to educated people, it really looks *quite* neurotic. See "obsessive-compulsive disorders".
-
- I have spit at times in the past. On occasion, while bicycle riding or running, when I inhale a bug. Many times, if it's a smaller specimen, I find it easier to just swallow. And sometimes you get that deal where you snort one up your nose, and you cough and it comes out your mouth. (There's a nickname for this, but I don't remember what it is) - MC

[omniscientnot]

I'm of the male persuasion. I just don't see the point of spitting. Pete, are you afraid of eventually drowning in your own saliva if you don't spit but just swallow?? Even the phlegm thing: it was in your body in the first place and it didn't exactly kill you, did it? Unpleasant? Yes. But unpleasant enough for everybody else to...see? Don't think so.

As for the "kids", I would say it's more a question of statement, of "in-your-face smart-ass" attitude than anything else.

P.S.: In China, spitting has become such a problem that the authorities have decided to fine the culprits.

[OpalCat]

Trust me, there's no special message to it. We've just realized that we need to expectorate. Maybe girls are different. Do you dip a cup into the toilet and pour your piss back into your vagina?

Um... "back" into your vagina?? Urine should never be IN the vagina in the first place. How old are you? Do you understand female anatomy AT ALL?

Now about spitting: If I am at home, and I am coughing up mucous, I will spit it into a tissue and throw it away. Out in public, however, I will swallow it. Anyone who horks these things up onto the sidewalk or grass is truly a disgusting individual. Aside from the gross-out factor, it is also a wonderful way to spread disease.

If I saw a man spit like that, I'd stay as far away from him as possible.

On a related note, I was once dancing for a guy back in my days of doing that, and the guy picked up a shot glass and spit into it... tobacco juice. The glass was already full of it. I ran to the bathroom and puked. In fact, I just had two actual dry heaves just writing this, not just gagging, but actual stomache convulsions.

Spitters: you are vile. End of story.

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[omniscientnot]

OpalCat: Spread of disease -- very true (and forgot to mention it in my post). Actually, I believe that was the main reason for fining spitters in China, aside from the fact that the capitalist tourists would find the experience of stepping into micropuddle after micropuddle a bit of an inconvenience and wouldn't necessarily recommend the place to their friends back home :)

[matt_mcl]

I swallow except for two circumstances: phlegm (when I have a cold) and very very thick saliva (the kind that stands up by itself; has a foamy consistency). Those I hork, but I always do it into a wastebasket or other suitable receptacle.

[Pete]

Sorry, Opal. I should have specified the urethra, which, for lack of a better collective term for the genital area, I simply included as part of the vagina. I could have said "back in your urinary tract" but that just doesn't have the same rancor, y'know?

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I don't know who first said "everyone's a critic," but I think it's a really stupid saying.

[Hazel]

I agree with Opalcat that spitting phlem on the street or sidewalk is disgusting. Just plain spit somewhat less so, but I'd have to classify it as "not very nice".

Re China, I read that their spitting problem is people spitting phlem, not just on the street, but indoors as well. Between air pollution and smoking, many Chinese produce a lot of phlem.

My grandmother has a practice that beats all of this crudeness by far: she keeps a tissue in her purse and spits into it when she needs to, then puts the tissue back in the purse. She doesn't change tissues often, either.

I'd hate to be the thief who robbed her and went through that purse! Ewwwww.

[Enright3]

I'm probably not the most qualified person to comment on spitting, but I've seen my share of spitters. I would say that most spitters do so because of allergies or snot (or good 'ol lung cookies). The plain old liquid spit is usually just swallowed. Boys definitely spit more than girls. Maybe it's all that practice from eating sunflower seeds. Have you ever seen someone spit who didn't know how? Now THAT'S funny!

I was the plate umpire for a girls fastpitch team, and between innings I saw them making quite a mess. They decided they wanted to learn how to spit, and asked if I could teach them! Let me tell you, you really learn to appreciate the fine art of spitting when you witness a whole team of 17 & 18 year old girls trying to spit. Don't even get me started on their burping contests!