OK - I get tobacco chewing, sea water draining from your sinuses after a big wave has crammed water into your nasal passages, maybe you ate something bad.

But everywhere I go, I see men spitting. Sitting at a traffic light, the guy in front opens his door and spits on the ground. All around me, men are spitting. Why?

I don't think it's me, really...

I think it depends on where you live...

Men don't spit where I grew up (Southern California), or in the places I know best (the rest of California, New Mexico, Arizona mostly)...or if they do, I've never seen it...

...but after my Mom died, my sister and I drove through West Virginia on our way to New Jersey (where my parents had been living for several years), and when it comes to men spitting, West Virginians have to be (at least in my admittedly limited experience) the Blue Ribbon Champions.

Yuck!!!

laperla not logged in Wrote:
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Maybe you and I are living in alternate, but simultaneous, universes??

:D

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:D :D :D

"The Truth About Why Guys Spit All the Freakin' Time. Because We Know You've Always Wondered"

by Kristen Dold
"Women's Health" magazine
30 March 2016

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/why-guys-spit

"Of all the nasty things you can step on outside (fresh dog poo, chewed food, sticky gum, questionable-looking latex), fresh bubbling spit ranks pretty high on the 'oh, sick' list. Seeing it launched out of some dude’s mouth is even sicker. ('Did I just get hit in the eye?') And, sorry for the generalization, but the perpetrator is usually a dude. We hate it, so why the heck do they do it?

"Well, it turns out the reason they're hocking loogies all the time is purely out of habit, says dentist Susan Maples, author of 'Blabber Mouth: 77 Secrets Only Your Mouth Can Tell You to Live a Healthier, Happier, Sexier Life.' As much as we’d like to give guys an evolutionary or biological out, there’s no evidence they produce more saliva or build up some unsavory taste in their mouth that we don’t have. 'It’s purely cultural: Some guys spit because they grew up thinking it’s cool and didn’t get chastised the way girls might for spitting,' says Maples. 'Others develop the habit from spitting out chewing tobacco.' Um, eww.

"Producing saliva is actually a sign you’re in good health—most people make around two to four pints a day (yup, gross image). We use it to lubricate and digest our food and fight off bacteria that causes bad breath and cavities. Your salivary glands may kick into high gear when you eat spicy foods or have heartburn, and there are a number of diseases (like Parkinson’s or cerebral palsy) that may cause extra saliva, but in general most men just spit to spit. So dudes of the world: Give it up already, would you?"



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2017 02:57AM by steve benson.

My observations agree with Mr Benson's post above.

Some guys just seem to spit. For no reason. I tend to liken it to dogs marking where they've been. Some kind of crude subconscious method of claiming territory, as it were. I see no need for spitting--especially in public. A kind of action to state to the world that they are 'alpha' and therefore can expectorate at will.

Just a rude habit, IMO...

I don't spit except at the dentist's office.

I agree with Steve, it's cultural. It's not unusual for my students to want to spit into the classroom sink. They are rather amazed when I tell them that they can simply swallow it instead. The ones who like to spit consider that rather gross.

I have not noticed men spitting anywhere I have been, but that is pretty limited. It would be considered very crude. Have seen spit and other gross things on the sidewalk in the city, but did not notice any men in the act of spitting.

Funny, I was just asking myself this question yesterday when I was sitting at a traffic light and some guy spit on the sidewalk. It's really gross.

If you think a guy is good-looking and then he suddenly spits, that ruins it right there. The brief infatuation is over.

I notice it and I live in Northern California.

I'm a guy and I remember spitting a lot when I was a teenager. It's silly but, probably from being an insecure teenager, I felt rebellious, tough, macho, cool, etc when I did it. Doing it or made it more of a habit. By the time I was 18 or 19 I guess I just stopped it.

I can see it being a habit for some men, particularly the ones who chew tobacco.

I see it like smoking. Smoking is pretty stupid but I think most people start doing it because it makes them feel cool, tough, or whatever. Maybe helps fit in with a certain crowd. I suppose it also can be a subconscious act in moments of awkwardness or silence. I've noticed a LOT that when men walk up to the urinal next to me they spit in the urinal, LOL. Do any of you do this??!! Are you really saving up a loogy in your office all morning and then spit it out when you decide to go to the bathroom to pee?

But logically it makes no sense and I get why most people, especially girls don't understand it and just find it gross.

I think it is biology. Men are naturally more active, and have nervous energy, and chewing and spitting are an expressioin of that.

As a teenager I spent 5 hours a day walking back and forth moving irrigation pipe in hay fields. I started chewing on grass stems, and that habit persists to this day. I don't remember anyone teaching me that, and I don't see it in our culture. I recall my older sister berating me for spitting chewed grass and other nervous habits like drumming with fingers on the table.

But yes, men are gross. Ideally you could limit your exposure to us.

Just remember, that the energy and tolerance of filth by men, is what allows us to fix cars and build bridges or roads or work in coal mines to make your electricity, or a thousand other dirty, nasty, dangerous jobs.

You're welcome.

My maternal grandfather was a coal miner. One thing that he prided himself on was that he would come home clean every working day. Somehow he found a way to clean up after working.

He died of brown lung disease. My grandmother survived on the payouts given to families of miners who lost their lives in this manner.

My Dad has always been an extremely active man and I've never seen him spit. Ever. It's the same with his brothers and my own brother. And my brother-in-law too.

The only time I spit is to clear the mucus or phlegm from my throat. When necessary I try to go into a restroom and spit into the garbage can or the sink (then wash it down the drain). Once after spitting into a garbage can a "friend" remarked "gross." I replied "Would you rather I spit on the ground where people can step in it?"

The streets of Manhattan are lined with spittle from Wall Street executives and passersby.

You have to 'tiptoe' through the tulips (gag) to dodge those.

Worse than spitting, blowing "farmers" out their nostrils...

If you do it while riding a bike, they're called snot rockets.

You just see men doing it (women do it in private - or keep it in).

In most animals, the natural male urge is to pee to mark their territory. Be grateful it is just spit.

Seriously, I am a man and I don't spit. I think spitting was seen as cool when I was a teenager because baseball players were doing it. I can't say I have ever had the urge to. It is definitely a cultural thing.

Here in the south, every other guy either chews tobacco, or does snuff, so...

I don't care if men spit, although I think it's completely disgusting. I will, however, call someone right out, even if it's a total stranger. "I HAVE TO WALK THERE! CAN'T YOU SPIT IN THE GRASS INSTEAD OF THE SIDEWALK?"

Why do I have to see, and then slip on your loogie?

This seems to be a popular question...

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+do+men+spit+so+much%3F&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS707US707&oq=why+do+men+spit+so+much%3F&aqs=chrome..69i57j0j69i61.2927j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

The only time I spit is if:

-- I have something nasty in my mouth
-- I accidentally said "Mormonism" (which is really the same as the first one!)

:)

Posted by: Tevai: "Men don't spit where I grew up (Southern California) Arizona mostly)...or if they do, I've never seen it.

Air conditioned cars and freeways, IMO, are one reason why they don't spit out of the window.

Yes, I agree, it is an AWFUL habit--I Repeat, A HABIT. (Let them swallow it, rather than 'share' it in public.
---

My father was a spit-out-the-car-widow guy, and I was the lucky little girl that sat behind the driver's seat. Once he spit out the window, and the wend sent it right back into the car---onto my face! (GAG---I still remember the awfulness of this.)

We lived in So.California when this happened. (L.A.)

women not swallow enough? :)

but we never knew it until a few years before he died because we never saw him spit and he was a farmer, etc. His dad was in WWI where he started the habit of chewing tobacco. I did see my grandfather spit a few times, but not very often and I was around him a lot as we worked on the farm, where my grandparents lived.

I will actually add to the list of things I don't like seeing lying around when I'm out walking. I'm seeing more and more of those dental floss picks. I see more of them than anything else.