# Saliva Disposal Methods **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 1999, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817 "1999-08-15T04:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fatal\_Image](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/73ab20/32.png) [@Fatal\_Image](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatal_Image)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/21 "1999-08-18T08:34:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![barton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@barton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barton)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/22 "1999-08-18T15:29:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 1999, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/23 "1999-08-18T22:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. \ ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/24 "1999-08-21T18:08:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/25 "1999-08-21T18:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 1999, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/26 "1999-08-22T19:15:00Z")
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…” ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 1999, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/27 "1999-08-22T19:55:00Z")
- - - 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 ---
**Author:** ![omniscientnot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a5b964/32.png) [@omniscientnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omniscientnot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 1999, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/28 "1999-08-22T20:14:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/29 "1999-08-24T05:15:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/30 "1999-08-23T18:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. * * * **\>^,^\<** “Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…” OpalCat’s site: [http://fathom.org/opalcat](http://fathom.org/opalcat) The Teeming Millions Homepage: [fathom.org/teemingmillions](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions) ---
**Author:** ![omniscientnot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a5b964/32.png) [@omniscientnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omniscientnot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 1999, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/31 "1999-08-23T19:04:00Z")
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 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pete)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 1999, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/32 "1999-08-24T15:18:00Z")
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? * * * I don’t know who first said “everyone’s a critic,” but I think it’s a really stupid saying. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/33 "1999-08-25T07:08:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/34 "1999-08-25T16:58:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 1999, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817/35 "1999-08-25T18:12:00Z")
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! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saliva-disposal-methods/2817.md?page=1)