Drinking again, eh? I missed a few words, like “he should NOT leave that blah blah blah…”
I would have felt the same urge, but like the OP I wouldn’t act on it. I would have either gotten into a verbal confrontation, or taken off the jacket, dropped it at his feet, and gone to another car/seat. I’m a growed-up now, I don’t have to get into fights anymore. That violence is often my first impulse is just the result of the years when I did have to, and did often. I’ve been safely ignoring it for years. I suspect the OP has a similar background. Something in us demands that honor be satisfied with violence. It’s just ingrained.
As for whether it would have been morally wrong, I’m not sure. I know it would violate the social agreement, and that it would likely be counter-productive, resulting in further violence, or legal trouble. I know it would be the incorrect thing to do, and I would always choose not to do it, but like the OP again, I’m not entirely sure it would be wrong, if the distinction is clear. But that’s probably because my moral compass got busted in one of those teenage fights. 
I definitely think there are some situations where a punch would be perfectly acceptable, like if the guy was grabbing at a woman or something. Yeah, a sneeze just doesn’t cut it, I’m afraid.
…Okay, this has been on my mind for weeks. It deserves its own thread - this story just has be expounded. Why was she vomitting? Was she sick? Drunk? Pregnant? Was it on purpose, somehow? And how did she let your friend know that he didn’t deserve an apology? At the end did she just wipe her mouth and say “and you don’t deserve an apology!”? What did your friend do? What did the other passangers do?
Urges to punch fellow commuters are bad? Uh oh. I’m a very, very bad boy.
I consider it a daily victory when I get to work and another when I get home not having whipped someone to death with my laptop cord. Thus far, I’m undefeated. As an aging warrior, I don’t know how long I can keep up the win streak.
Obviously, you’ve never been on the subway in New York City during rush hour. Sometimes it is just that crowded and even if you aren’t the one who decided to squeeze in when it’s that crowded, if others do it after you’re on, you can sometimes find yourself in that situation.
The original poster’s first mistake was putting his book down. That way, he lost his shield. 
Morally the OP might have a case, but I am pretty sure that the potential legal troubles would be nothing to sneeze at.
Could you stop mincing words already? 
One trick to cultivate is emitting a sneeze so that it comes out sounding like “Asshole!”.
You can do this with varying degrees of subtlety.
You had every right to punch him, but why waste a good pair of gloves. Although if he sneezes on ME I’m going to blame you for not punching him and training him to act like a human being.
How about this: wait till he gets off the train then slap him upside the head with a garbage can or a two-by-four. Then when he’s lookiing up at you in disbelief explain to him what it was they he did that merited such retribution. Granted, additional blows may be necessary to elicit the appropriate apology.
Quick reminiscence: 1987ish. I was waiting for the #4 in Grand Central. There were only a few people waiting on the platform where I was. Then this guy stumbles in from somewhere. Talk about disgusting. He WAS Aqualung. This dirty, drippy, disgusting thing is stumbling about, standing for a few seconds, falling this way and that. So the dance begins. I, with great tact, casually take a few steps this way or that to ensure that I won’t be in his path. All of my movements were subtle, slow, and very anticipatory, so as to not insult him by communicating through my movements that I found this fellow human being beyond gross. For about ten minutes I was completely successful in keeping a comfortable buffer zone between him and I while having all my movements be attributed to me just meandering about out of boredom. Then when we were about 10 feet away he stumbles agian—first this way and then that. He seems to be stumbling to my left so I start to move to my right, obstensibly oblivious to his jerky meanderings. But it was a fake! HE GAVE ME A FAKE, the fucker. He took that one stumble to his right then immediately corrected and took a very fast “stumble” directly for where I was putting down my next step. I was hoping he would come to a stop or change direction again, but no such luck. I waited to the very last fraction of a second then jumped out of the way as if I was trying to avoid a crazed monkey that escaped from an Ebola research facility.
Then he stopped. After my feet landed on the ground about four feet from him, for the first time he looked up at me. And laughed. He so got me, the fucker. I made sure to move down the platform a few sections and escaped the encounter clean but rattled. But, Aqualung, if your out there, well played, my friend, well played.
Anyway, it was funny at the time and stuck with me (obviously). Sorry for the detour.
Finger down throat.
Vomit in offender’s lap.
Find new seat.
Ask someone for gum.
Go about business.
Listen, violence is nothing to sneeze at. Unless it’s against mimes.
Here, roommate=housemate, so when I say roommate I mean someone who lives in the same house.
She was vomitting because she gets motion sickness. She knew she was going to throw up long before she did, and didn’t get off the bus. She let my friend know by saying to him a week or so later, “I would apologise to you, but you kept me up on thursday night”. We had been watching dvds until 10pm on that particular Thursday night (this isn’t a regular occurrence). Not overly roudy, it was futurama, so occasional laughs may’ve abounded. Of course she seems to forget that that’s the time she is normally up laughing loudly on half the nights of the week. :rolleyes:
My friend went home (thereby missing his classes for the entire week) as he had to find new clothes. I believe the other passengers just were shocked for the rest of the ride to uni, which was about 5 minutes accoording to my friend.
Keep in mind that my roommate is an extremely self centred hypocrit. She’s the kind of roommate who is extremely messy then makes up a roster for everyone to clean. And she still hasn’t paid me the last lot of bills, even though she insists that you pay your bills to her 4 days in advance.
Did you live in a retirement home?