To think spitting is disgusting?

[bobstersmum]

Is there a reason people spit when walking along the street? I never feel the need to spit myself so don't understand, is there a medical condition that people have? Tbf it's usually men doing it but not always! It turns my stomach!

I think it's a cultural thing. It's bloody disgusting.

So disgusting!
Unless you get a fly in your mouth, then you have no choice but I worry when that happens as I don't want people to think I'm "a spitter", the idea is almost as bad as actually having a fly in your mouth. I'm tempted to make a little sign to hold up if it ever happens again, "Very sorry, fly in mouth. Seriously, I am not normally this gross."

Agreed. It’s absolutely vile and I HATE it when I see someone doing it. If someone ever spat at me I don’t know how I’d react, as I really can’t stand it.

It revolting.

But I would say that I've had to spit when out running and I've partially inhaled large insects. A swig of water and good spit into a grass verge is vastly preferable to half churned bugs in my mouth. It feels very wrong to do it though.

Spitting is banned in my country - there is a hefty fine and they enforce this daily. I don’t know anyone that spits except people in London. Strange habit. So gross

Spitting is banned in my country - there is a hefty fine and they enforce this daily.

I wish they did that here. I honestly get the rage when I see people spitting, I absolutely hate it 😡

I once led a school trip which for some reason involved a backstage tour of a theatre in Toulon.

We were all way above the stage, where all the ropes and pullies are, when I spotted a sign which read: "Défense de Cracher" (no spitting). The idea that theatre stagehands would need to be instructed not to spit down onto the stage many feet below was baffling to me. Bizarre!

It's horrible. I saw an elderly man spitting in the street yesterday and told him he was a dirty man but he just looked blankley at me - no English. Certain cultures seem to just think it's normal to do that in the street.

I think it died out after the second world war with better hygeine, notices on buses etc. Then we became a healthier nation, TB vaccination worked, and you got a generation who didn't associate spitting with disease. I reckon it then re-started in the UK in the 80s as a trendy thing among young men caused by better filming of premiership football... All that footage of elite athletes spitting as they run about. Every little nitwit boy then thought it was cool to spit.

That's my theory.

obviously there is also the crossover from people in London from other cultures where it's seen as acceptable though.

i once saw an old man in Lima in Peru just pooing into the gutter!

I had to pull up a mum at our primary school for doing this in the school playground. I think I deserve a Nobel for keeping my cool. To be fair, she’s not English and another mum did tell me it was fairly common in her country but all the same, in a primary school???

There's been plenty of times I've been caught out with no tissues or ends of receipts or dog poo bags and have ended up finding a corner to "spit".

If it happens frequently WTF would you not make sure you carry appropriate equipment with you? A packet of tissues doesn't take up much room. I had HG that lasted 7 months and I always carried sick bags, anti-bac wipes and tissues out of courtesy to other people.

It's vile. One of the reasons I can't even match 30 minutes if a football match.

I also think it should be made illegal (in public obviously).

I spent 3 years working on an ambulance in the states. All my male partners chewed tobacco and spat all the time. It makes me gag Even worse when we were inside the ambulance they'd spit into water bottles so I could see all the spit and tobacco 🤮 I ended up going direct to Starbucks and getting a venti takeaway cup with a lid so I at least didn't have to see it. Absolutely vile

@HavelockVetinari because sometimes with a full blown chest infection coughing up blood sporadically but still having two dogs to walk I didn't always have the forethought to pack more than 6 dog poo bags and two packets of tissues. Surely I couldn't go through more than that?

I would have thought someone who'd been through similar would have understood.

Where I live, it's mainly older men that I see doing it. And that thing of holding one nostril and blowing the contents of the others onto the floor. Utterly disgusting, no need.

I am not sure if it is cultural. I think it is men with no respect from all back rounds. Another gross one is people I have seen some ladies too, picking their nose in the car, especially at traffic lights when they take a good look at their prize snot.

Massive public health hazard, too... Grim AF.

Utterly vile. This is one (of the many) reasons that I dislike Tiger Woods intensely- he spits on the golf course.

YANBU - it is a disgusting habit and spreads germs.

When my mum worked on a hospital ward, she caught a relative of a patient spitting in the floor of the ward! Think the woman was lucky not to be handed a mop and bucket.

She was told in no uncertain terms that spitting was not acceptable, especially in a hospital!

The spitting on the streets in China is plentiful. HORRENDOUS. Absolutely revolting.

I still don’t understand why people do it. Unless you have a mouthful of something actually harmful - eg you’ve realised you’re eating food that’s gone off - you can just swallow it?

Sometimes it's to show disrespect or to intimidate. It's happened on more than one occasion just as my path has crossed with the spitter. Didn't spat directly at me but might as well have done its absolutely repulsive.

Spit*

I reckon it then re-started in the UK in the 80s as a trendy thing among young men caused by better filming of premiership football... All that footage of elite athletes spitting as they run about. Every little nitwit boy then thought it was cool to spit.
The football association needs to make it clear that this is not acceptable. It is disgusting and there is no need for them to spit and show a bad example.
The FA are quick to condemn other things that bring the game into disrepute so lets make sure they add spitting to the list.