Spitting in the street!

[smudge]

Last week a very pretty girl was walking past my daughter's house, when she made a clearing noise in her throat, then spat on the pavement. My daughter & I were astounded & the girl immediately looked round to see what reaction she'd got from us. We pretended not to be looking, so as not to give her an audience, but she repeated this all the way down the road, looking over her shoulder at us each time.

My question is: Why do people (boys, girls, men or women) do this? Do they do it in their own back gardens too?

They are the lowest of the low as far as I'm concerned.

[woofgang]

oh tempore oh mores smudge. I think that it is disgusting too. More to the point, there is research to show that it is one of the reasons for the recent rise in transmission of infectious diseases, in particular TB. I believe that it is still illegal to spit in public., (a law brought in to deal with the spread of TB as I understand it) sadly that law is no longer enforced.

PS I don't think that televised spitting at sports events, eg football, helps either

[Kay]

I find it sickening,also some men who seem to delight in holding one nostril whilst blowing out of the other.YUK.

[ems27]

i have to agree. Its the one thing that immedialtely puts me off someone. One guy did it whilst i was on a date with him and that was it, no going back. It also makes me feel physically sick. I remember in school two nasty boys in my class had a spitting competition, i ended up vomiting right there in the middle of the class on seeing this, i never lived it down either.

[oxeyedaisy]

its a disgusting habit and makes me feel sick..we had an old man next door and he allways used to clear his throat and spitt..okay it was in his garden but i could hear it usually when i was eating and it made me heave...thank goodness he has gone..

[cheyenne]

School children soon grow out of doing it,Its just a habit they pick up and then they drop it and go on to something else!!

[KittyGlitter]

Once I was walking down the street with a friend, and some teenage boy in front of us, turned his head round, spat out some phlegm and it landed on my friend's jacket. I nearly vomited. Next people will be p*ssing in the street. Oh yes, I nearly forgot, they already do usually after closing time.

[natalie_1982]

I used to know, well he was a customer in a place I worked, an old man who had a little terrier dog type thing and he used to hack into the dog's mouth.

It is a foul habit, unfortunately it is a phase that most kids go through, fortunately it is a phase and they do tend to grow out of it.  Apart from the aforementioned old man of course.

[tetherend]

As disgusting behaviour it is, I think you've answered your own question smudge.  She looked round to see your reaction, and that is very probably why she did it. 

[Romeo]

I hate to see anyone spitting in the street, no matter who they are. But to think that a pretty girl would do it - what a turn off !!

[hobart]

I went to China a couple of years ago and could not believe how much spitting went on. Everywhere you went there was the sound of people coughing up their lungs and spitting. The worst had to be on the internal flights that we took, where several people spent much of the flight spitting into sickbags.

This was at the tail-end of the SARS outbreak, and there were signs all over the place telling people not to spit, so I hate to think what it was like before SARS.

[shaz-rla]

If people really feel the need to clear their nasal passages why the hell can't they at least spit it into a tissue? It is disgusting.

[Aschenbach]

I spit when I'm jogging or playing football because phelgm / saliva builds up in my throat and I need an empty mouth to breathe more easily. I've never done it to deliberately cause offence and it would surprise me if anyone even noticed me.

[smudge]

 

natalie1982 - my daugher has been reading the replies on here & said  "wait until you read the dog one Mum" & I just have! That's unbelievable & why ever would he want to do that - is it because he couldn't be bothered to go outside & spit on the pavement? Yuk!

Thank you for all your answers, I didn't think I'd be alone on this one!

[Aschenbach]

Point taken Smudge. I was probably playing Devil's advocate - I like disagreeing or finding fault. By the way isn't 'separate entity' a tautology like 'free gift'?

[smudge]

Hi again Aschenbach,

Entity: An ontological unit - 8 Classmates:

• Article
• Being
• Entity
• Existent
• Individual
• Item
• Object
• Thing

So, I suppose I could rephrase my comment to being 'That's a completely separate 'thing', which would still have a similar meaning!

Have a lovely day. 

[smudge]

I could also have written:'That's a completely separate issue' -  but I didn't!

P.S. Why has my reply to natalie been edited AB Ed?

[a person 538]

Definatly agree there its a disgusting habit and there should be an on the spot fine if caught that would stop them.