spitting

brookfetish

WhyFi wrote: [quote=BrookFetish]BTW, what's the over/under on this thread turning into a race war?

Gender.

My question was tongue in cheek...referencing an insane number of other posts on these forums.

stacey

apollonia666 wrote: It's GROSS. Just flat gross.

I do agree it is gross not matter what but you know what they say
SPIT HAPPENS

(Im sorry I just couldn't pass that up)

laura

stacey wrote: SPIT HAPPENS

Yes it does. And one swallows it.

brookfetish

So, I dare assume that if you don't spit....


....you swallow?

jayce

laura wrote: [quote=doctorj]cyclists are substantially invisible to everyone but other cyclists

:-s Somehow I get the feeling you don't spend a lot of time being a pedestrian. Anyhow, it seems to me that this kind of activity leads to one's nose running, not needing to spit. :-s

as a cyclist myself i'd say we are invisible to pedestrians too. which is why so many pedestrians step out on cross walks when we still have the light and no cars are coming.

and as for the spitting... i think doctorj mighta been referring to the "snot rocket" effect. infinitely worse, in my opinion, than being spat upon. and as both a runner and biker, i've been hit by both.

laura

jayce wrote: as a cyclist myself i'd say we are invisible to pedestrians too. which is why so many pedestrians step out on cross walks when we still have the light and no cars are coming.

I think a lot of pedestrians act like complete idiots and step out on cross walks no matter what.

pitu

doublediamond wrote:
Being disgusted by spitting isn't anything new. Have you ever checked out old street and subway signs from NYC, like in the transit museum or seen signs at old train stops? People has always thought it was digusting and asked others to refrain from spitting in public.

those signs . . . driven by concerns about tuberculosis

leeho

In Japan, a country of exquisite hygeine, men will still piss in city side gutters in many cities. Especially if they have been drinking. It isn't illegal or anything.

Fuck it. I spit all the time. I just look before I do it to avoid hitting anyone.

I'm not a degenerate, but sometimes I am congested and I don't have Kleenex on me. Whatever. Loogie to the pavement with effort to stay clear of others.

jayce

laura wrote: I think a lot of pedestrians act like complete idiots and step out on cross walks no matter what.

totally agree. but that adds to the notion that cyclists are invisible to everyone but other cyclists.

laura

jayce wrote: [quote=laura]I think a lot of pedestrians act like complete idiots and step out on cross walks no matter what.

totally agree. but that adds to the notion that cyclists are invisible to everyone but other cyclists.
I suppose so. I guess I'm just thinking of myself, I know I am very aware of cyclists. Especially when they think they don't have to obey any traffic rules. :x Or rather, I've become even more conscious because so many of them don't.

jayce

See, again, as a cyclist, I will tell you I obey more rules than anyone else out there on the road. and let's draw a little distinction here (this is veering so far off track from spitting, i am sure it will become a split topic). cyclists are not delivery guys on bikes. the cyclists I refer to are the real ones. in helmets. who are getting ticketed in central park for going above 30mph (which isn't hard on a hill) while cars blow by at 50mph. Same threat for the park here, but who knows. The cyclists I refer to are the ones being told they have to get parade permits for groups of 10. The cyclists I refer to are the ones that are harassed by police for every.minor.infraction you can believe while one car after another is allowed... no wait... encouraged... to park in the few bike lanes that there are in this city. EVEN THE POLICE USE THE BIKE LANES TO PARK!!!

so don't get me started on cyclists not obeying the traffic rules. I think we are out there obeying more rules than any other class of moving vehicle and one or two people that fall outside the norm are becoming the perceived norm around here.

brookfetish

curbed

michaelkeys

laura wrote: [quote=stacey]SPIT HAPPENS

Yes it does. And one swallows it.
Really?! Wow. OK fine, another thing to cross off the never-thought-I'd-hear-that-one list.

Next on Brooklynian.com: Ratner's Folly "trumped" by germ-free bio-dome.

doublediamond

pitu wrote: [quote=doublediamond]
Being disgusted by spitting isn't anything new. Have you ever checked out old street and subway signs from NYC, like in the transit museum or seen signs at old train stops? People has always thought it was digusting and asked others to refrain from spitting in public.

those signs . . . driven by concerns about tuberculosis

Yes, it's was and still is a health issue. It was also considered "offensive conduct." And possibly, I don't have the data to back this up, a call to immigrants, especially the Chinese, to curb their cultural inclinations to spit.

Edit: 1996 NYTs article on the law against spitting:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E5DD1439F936A35756C0A960958260

homeowner

apollonia666 wrote: [quote=WhyFi][quote=BrookFetish]BTW, what's the over/under on this thread turning into a race war?

Gender.

Yeah, if it's going to turn into anything... I mean, I see WAY more men doing this than women.

What kills me is the number of people in this thread trying to justify it for one reason or another. It's GROSS. Just flat gross.

I am not trying to justify it, just recognizing that it does happen. I have, on occassion had to get rid of a mouth full of really disgusting stuff. However, as someone posted above, I don't spit in front of other people, neither do I make the loud, attention drawing ACCCCCHHHHHHHKKKKKK followed by the explosive PHFOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. Just being discret and not spitting on the sidewalk would go a long way to making it less of a problem.

laura

jayce wrote: so don't get me started on cyclists not obeying the traffic rules. I think we are out there obeying more rules than any other class of moving vehicle and one or two people that fall outside the norm are becoming the perceived norm around here.

Point taken. I suppose I probably have selective memory about this since the only two times I've almost gotten creamed on a NY street has been by a (nondelivery) cyclist mistakenly thinking they were in the Tour de France ...

doctorj

laura wrote: [quote=doctorj]cyclists are substantially invisible to everyone but other cyclists

:-s Somehow I get the feeling you don't spend a lot of time being a pedestrian.

Somehow I get the feeling you don't spend a lot of time being an ordinary bicycle commuter. As a pedestrian, how can you count the number of cyclists that remain completely invisible to you? Or those you might catch out of the corner of your eye for a split second because they're much smaller than a motor vehicle and faster in heavy traffic? As a cyclist, I can count the number of near misses, brushes, glancing blows, and sudden brakings I experience in Manhattan per day as a result of jaywalkers not seeing me.

laura

doctorj wrote: Somehow I get the feeling you don't spend a lot of time being an ordinary bicycle commuter.

No, never in fact. Point taken. Let's get back to spit ...

doublediamond

Good article on public pitting can be found here: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/311/7021/1685

Some tidbits:

In the middle ages, spitting at meals was permitted, provided it was under the table and not on or across it--a habit apparently common among boorish hunters.

..spitting on the floor in factories--and in hospital waiting rooms--was apparently acceptable until at least 1914...

..."of course they spit on the floor; where do you expect them to spit, in their pockets?

michaelkeys

homeowner wrote: I am not trying to justify it, just recognizing that it does happen. I have, on occassion had to get rid of a mouth full of really disgusting stuff. However, as someone posted above, I don't spit in front of other people, neither do I make the loud, attention drawing ACCCCCHHHHHHHKKKKKK followed by the explosive PHFOOOOOOOOOOOOOT. Just being discreet and not spitting on the sidewalk would go a long way to making it less of a problem.

Unacceptable, homeowner!

You are not to excrete in public any substance, at any time or any place no matter how consciencious of others you may be in your approach. This is simply vile and despicable on your part to even consider this act one of a decent human being. It is clear that you have a need for reason, finding a middle ground and/or compromise in the name of peaceful co-existence. This will not do, for this proves that you and your kind are, in fact, unfit to live among us. Please leave us at once!

(Heh, heh. I've got your back, though.)

pitu

laura wrote: [quote=doctorj]Somehow I get the feeling you don't spend a lot of time being an ordinary bicycle commuter.

No, never in fact. Point taken. Let's get back to spit ...

yes, but before we do
I'd like to pause in appreciation of today's Moment Of Zen

doctorj wrote: can you count the number of cyclists that remain completely invisible to you?

doctorj

MichaelKeys wrote:
You are not to excrete in public any substance, at any time or any place no matter how consciencious of others you may be in your approach.

Thanks for clearing that up -- I promise henceforth never to lactate in public.

laura

doctorj wrote: I promise henceforth never to lactate in public.

Oh no, now this is going to merge with the Tea Lounge Stroller Derby thread. :shock:

prospectplacegirl

this is what i think. spitting is like farting. everyone (should) know(s) when to fart, and when not to fart. i know i don't fart when i'm in a meeting, or in line in the coffee shop, or when other people are around. but you best believe i fart all over my apartment, or in my long winter coat on a freezing day to keep me warm when im doing the long boring walk from flatbush home up to prospect.

i see spitting as the same thing. or doing that nasty clearing the snot out of your throat/nose when youre all clogged up in the morning wretched sound it makes...you keep that shit to yourself, and release at the appropriate times.

i see men all of the time blow snot rockets on to the subway tracks, which is just plain nasty. they certain have control over when and where to do it.

of course we all have farts slip, and sometimes you have to get goo out of various chutes... but i know i've shared streets with other people as long as i've been on earth, and i've never *HAD* to spit, or snot rocket in the presence of others.

i think it's a matter of the home training one receives, in all honesty. kids who spit the first time in front of their parents, and aren't told that it's disgusting and impolite, turn in to the snot rocket/loogie spitting adults that we share the streets with in our daily lives.

... any adult with muscles that work can hold in farts, swallow spit, etc.

jussayin....

doctorj

So if spitting is illegal, but many people can do it without being seen and without their great expectorations noted after the fact, we're suffering a high rate of undetected crime.

laura

Just walking to and from the grocery store, as usual there was a blob of spit for every few feet of sidewalk. On the residential streets I watch my step to avoid the dog poo, but on the avenues it's mainly to avoid the spit.

armchair_warrior

i havent read any replies up the point of china town culture thing bs. americans use to spit much as chinese did. its about development levels.

laura

I know that Mr. Keys at the very least thinks I'm some sort of evil alien at this point but I still do not UNDERSTAND why people NEED TO SPIT.

I am the frickin' queen of chronic sinus problems and congestion, and yet these conditions do not cause me to spit, not even in private. In fact, you would have to pay me money in order to get me to spit in public, and even then I would encounter physical difficulty in doing the nasty deed. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

apollonia666

laura wrote: I know that Mr. Keys at the very least thinks I'm some sort of evil alien at this point but I still do not UNDERSTAND why people NEED TO SPIT.

I am the frickin' queen of chronic sinus problems and congestion, and yet these conditions do not cause me to spit, not even in private. In fact, you would have to pay me money in order to get me to spit in public, and even then I would encounter physical difficulty in doing the nasty deed. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

I'm with ya on this, Laura. I too am generally the Queen of Snot in the wintertime, and I can't remember the last time I spit in public, if I ever did. Surely I must have at least once or twice when I was a kid at some point, but it ooked me out to no end even as a child so it was never, ever a habit. Gross gross gross gross gross.

doctorj

apollonia666 wrote: Gross gross gross gross gross.

So if a man spits in the forest, and there's no woman there to see him, is he still gross?