# Spitting on the ground **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 4, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495 "2004-10-04T18:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/41 "2004-10-06T05:31:21Z")
I’m not a sports type but why do athletes spit? Not the get rid of a lugey spit (which is gross and they should be smacked) but the just spit spit? You see it all the time in football, in athletics (all through the olympics) etc. Why do they do it? Have they lost the ability to swallow? Does competeive sport overload your spit production? I have yet to see a female netballer or even those half naked beach volley ballers spit and they run as much as male athletes. Is it some manly man thing? ---
**Author:** ![Iris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a5b964/32.png) [@Iris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iris)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/42 "2004-10-06T15:43:24Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > I have yet to see a female netballer or even those half naked beach volley ballers spit and they run as much as male athletes. > > Is it some manly man thing? I don’t think it’s necessarily a manly thing. I’m a woman and I will occassionally spit on the ground while I’m outside running. In fact, most of the men and women on my cross country & track teams in college would spit while running. I don’t know what is about running that causes spitting. Perhaps it is an increase in saliva production. Sometimes it can be difficult to swallow while running, especially if you’re running really fast and out of breath. Before you all tell me how disgusting I am, please note that I don’t spit in the middle of the sidewalk - but on the grass. I can think of far more disgusting things that people leave on the ground than a little spit. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/43 "2004-10-07T08:15:39Z")
> [@Rysler](#): > > I don’t go around cruading against people for eating or chewing gum, it just aggrivates, or in some cases, **worries me** (bolding mine) I’m sorry if this was a while back in the thread, and I’m sorry if I’m missing something, but… huh? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/44 "2004-10-07T11:06:44Z")
I have never understood why people feel the need to spit, unless their running a marathon or something in which case I can understand it. Saliva is meant to be swallowed, goddammit! ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/45 "2004-10-07T13:19:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > That’s not the worst of it. It’s the styrofoam coffee cups and soda cans that have been used for the purpose and left for someone else to deal with, with all the ‘near misses’ running down the side to pool on the surface. More than once in the military I saw someone pick up the wrong cup, thinking it was their coffee…nuff said. Heh, heh, yep, I’ve seen that, too. And the projectile vomit that follows… ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/46 "2004-10-07T13:37:14Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > I’m not a sports type but why do athletes spit? > > Not the get rid of a lugey spit (which is gross and they should be smacked) but the just spit spit? You see it all the time in football, in athletics (all through the olympics) etc. Why do they do it? Have they lost the ability to swallow? Does competeive sport overload your spit production? > > I have yet to see a female netballer or even those half naked beach volley ballers spit and they run as much as male athletes. > > Is it some manly man thing? What a great question. I am hardly a delicate flower, but I wouldn’t spit in front of others (except after say ingesting a fly while dining al fresco) and wouldn’t spit on the sidewalk for a bet, but I have spit many times on the sports field and can’t now work out why. I think it must have something to do with being out of breath. I know when I do it it is done without thought and the rest of the time I just swallow it like evryone does all day long. Baffling. ---
**Author:** ![Tir\_Tinuviel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tir\_Tinuviel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tir_Tinuviel)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495/47 "2004-10-07T15:20:06Z")
This reminded me of an urban legend that was going round when I was at school. Apparently if you went to -insert neighbourhood- and spat on the groud, if one of the “hoods” stepping in it they’d hunt you down and kill you! That’d make an interesting CSI. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spitting-on-the-ground/267495.md?page=2)