Why does drinking salt water cause vomiting? (Some TMI)

Factual Questions
1

A fun thing I discovered this morning after using my neti pot. I unwittingly swallowed about half a cup of salt water that drained down the back of my throat, instead of the usual way. A couple minutes later, I coughed, gagged, and blaurgh vomited up the salt water. Felt fine afterwards.

I’ve recommended a glass of warm salt water to my brother when he had an upset stomach and preferred to throw up instead of suffer through it. Clearly, drinking salt water causes vomiting.

But why?

And, conversely, why can we eat really salty food and drink a glass of fresh water, and not throw up? How does our stomach tell the difference between the two?

2

Dunno, but I thought it was cool when Bond employed this in Casino Royale to try to avoid being poisoned. I’m going to guess that we’re just talking different quantities of salt here and that “salty” food doesn’t have nearly as much salt as a glass of salt water.

Valete,
Vox Imperatoris