# Urinal 101: piss n' spit

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinal-101-piss-n-spit/174295>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 10, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinal-101-piss-n-spit/174295 "2003-05-10T06:56:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![OddTunes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f475e1/32.png) [@OddTunes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OddTunes)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinal-101-piss-n-spit/174295/1 "2003-05-10T06:56:09Z")

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I’ve been meaning to bring this topic up for some time, and after the recent article [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030509.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/030509.html), the time seemed right.

For the longest time I thought it was an odd quirk of mine: When I scoot up to the bowl I will gather a ball of saliva and drop it down into the water, then pee, or sometimes just as the flow starts. And often I drop another ball upon completion of my bladder evacuation. Recently I started to notice, at public urinals, a hell of a lot of other men do this too!! Is this some inherited trait, or a learned behaviour (from whom I have no idea)? Do women also feel compelled to do the same? And lastly, WHY??? I can’t seem to stop myself from this odd habit!

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urinal-101-piss-n-spit/174295/2 "2003-05-10T17:54:22Z")

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Since women don’t use urinals, I really doubt they spit into toilets before using them.

There have been threads on this in GQ. And no one has an answer or even a viable theory.

The best one was: It’s a chance to spit in a controlled environment.