Why do people do this and when did it become acceptable?

[SouthernCatholic]

I've noticed recently a lot of people (predominantly men) spitting.  On the grass, in parking lots, on sidewalks, out of the windows of moving cars ...

Why do they do that?  And when did it become acceptable in social settings to just casually spit in public? 

The last time it happened I narrowly  missed having someone's spit landing on my shoes.  So I said, "Excuse me," rather loudly.  The man said, "What's your problem?"  So I told him that when he spit, without looking where he was spitting he nearly spit on me.  His response?  "Sounds like a personal problem.  Move faster next time."

When did this become normal/typical/usual behaviour?

[CanadianCatholic]

eww i hate that,,,,my husband and his brother spit..it makes me nauseaus. I think its one of the rudest things you can do, especially in front of a lady.

[Cyriacus]

Casual spitting has never been acceptable among well-mannered people in the civilized nations, but it is true that there has been a recent dearth of both well-mannered people and civilization generally. I advise that you keep better company, avoiding those places with a reputation for salivary flights, lest someone mistake you as a woman of tragic circumstances.

[SouthernCatholic]

Casual spitting has never been acceptable among well-mannered people in the civilized nations, but it is true that there has been a recent dearth of both well-mannered people and civilization generally. I advise that you keep better company, avoiding those places with a reputation for salivary flights, lest someone mistake you as a woman of tragic circumstances.

So far I've seen it in just about everywhere - from the parking lot of the upscale grocery store (Whole Foods) that I go to occasionally to the people walking down the street in my neighbourhood (which isn't super rich but is certainly solidly middle to upper middle class).

None of the people I have seen doing it are people I know.  Nor am I hanging out in areas of ill-repute.  These are normal middle class and upper middle class areas - not XXXX bars.

[PrayforMallory]

I've noticed recently a lot of people (predominantly men) spitting.  On the grass, in parking lots, on sidewalks, out of the windows of moving cars ...

Why do they do that?  And when did it become acceptable in social settings to just casually spit in public?  

The last time it happened I narrowly  missed having someone's spit landing on my shoes.  So I said, "Excuse me," rather loudly.  The man said, "What's your problem?"  So I told him that when he spit, without looking where he was spitting he nearly spit on me.  His response?  "Sounds like a personal problem.  Move faster next time."

When did this become normal/typical/usual behaviour?

Just out of curiosity, was this prompted by my post?



I'm from Mississippi. I was raised by spitters. It never really caught on with me. I was just joking about spitting everywhere in the previous thread.

I don't know what the attraction to spitting is.

It's kinda awesome, though. I wish I was still in touch with my roots enough to be spitting everywhere, standin on a porch underneath a Confederate flag with the portrait of Bosephus on it, next to a fleet of ruined 20 year-old sportscars, Free Bird cranked on the radio, a la Jesco White.
 

[werdegast]

I have also seen this lately and it makes me want to vomit on them.

[PrayforMallory]

Casual spitting has never been acceptable among well-mannered people in the civilized nations, but it is true that there has been a recent dearth of both well-mannered people and civilization generally. I advise that you keep better company, avoiding those places with a reputation for salivary flights, lest someone mistake you as a woman of tragic circumstances.

So far I've seen it in just about everywhere - from the parking lot of the upscale grocery store (Whole Foods) that I go to occasionally to the people walking down the street in my neighbourhood (which isn't super rich but is certainly solidly middle to upper middle class).

None of the people I have seen doing it are people I know.  Nor am I hanging out in areas of ill-repute.  These are normal middle class and upper middle class areas - not XXXX bars.

Dang. I didn't know you were gonna get all bourgy with this thread.
The southern bourgy folks are just as rednecky as the poor. They just have more money to invest in jet skis and trips to Destin. I'm sure the mayor of my hometown spits everywhere.

[SouthernCatholic]

Just out of curiosity, was this prompted by my post?

I'm from Mississippi. I was raised by spitters. It never really caught on with me. I was just joking about spitting everywhere in the previous thread.

I don't know what the attraction to spitting is.

It's kinda awesome, though. I wish I was still in touch with my roots enough to be spitting everywhere, standin on a porch underneath a Confederate flag with the portrait of Bosephus on it, next to a fleet of ruined 20 year-old sportscars, Free Bird cranked on the radio, a la Jesco White.
 

No.  Actually it was prompted by trip to grocery store this evening.  A trip during which I saw two people spit out of the windows of their moving cars and on guy spit in the parking lot on the way into the store.  Which reminded me of two incidents my husband and I saw this weekend.  Leaving us both wondering whatever happened to common courtesy and generally civilized behaviour.

I didn't even see your post in another thread ... Just a coincidence.

[edomuret]

I am a man.  I have never understand casual spitting.  I wonder if it is a habit like bitting your nails or cracking your knuckles.  Looks like the poster's experience with the man who almost spit on her shows that his lack of respect in general reaches way beyond spitting.

[SouthernCatholic]

Casual spitting has never been acceptable among well-mannered people in the civilized nations, but it is true that there has been a recent dearth of both well-mannered people and civilization generally. I advise that you keep better company, avoiding those places with a reputation for salivary flights, lest someone mistake you as a woman of tragic circumstances.

So far I've seen it in just about everywhere - from the parking lot of the upscale grocery store (Whole Foods) that I go to occasionally to the people walking down the street in my neighbourhood (which isn't super rich but is certainly solidly middle to upper middle class).

None of the people I have seen doing it are people I know.  Nor am I hanging out in areas of ill-repute.  These are normal middle class and upper middle class areas - not XXXX bars.

Dang. I didn't know you were gonna get all bourgy with this thread.
The southern bourgy folks are just as rednecky as the poor. They just have more money to invest in jet skis and trips to Destin. I'm sure the mayor of my hometown spits everywhere.

Pardon me?  What?  Can you repeat this in something resembling plain English?  I am clearly missing something very basic but I have no idea what "bourgy" means.

Oh wait - Urban dictionary to the rescue.  Apparently "bourgy" is the lazy man's version of the Marxist bourgeoisie.  It would seem that this is supposed to be insulting. 

Term used to describe someone of lower class origins who shuns his/her background as they ascend the class structure. The term originates from the Marxist word “Bourgeoisie”, which was a term used to define the minority upper-class that controlled pre-Soviet Russia.

Wow.  I am so insulted.  I just don't know what to do.  {Read the previous with as much sarcasm as you can possibly muster}

I was simply raised by a police officer in a time when one could actually be arrested for spitting in public - thus raised to believe that spitting in public was socially unacceptable, rude and rather disgusting.

Further as a former Medical Technologist who worked in microbiology and hematology I know just how unsanitary it is.  Which makes it exceptionally gross.