Should people be allowed to spit in public?

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2006-10-17 12:47pm

So my friend got spat on. Not entirely on purpose; it was a smoker near the entrance to my building pausing just long enough to spit (I have no idea why smokers spit, but spit splashes and cigarette butts share turf near office building foyer entrances). He wasn't *aiming* for my friend's shoes, but he hit them dead on as my friend walked by. Thus prompted the argument where he furiously said that along with banning public smoking, we should ban public spitting too (conjuring up the "well, we've outlawed public urination, right?" argument). Admittedly, I've spit in public a few times myself; offhand, once when a fly went into my mouth, and once by accident on a particularly hard cough, but in general if there's something unpleasant in my throat or mouth I head for the washroom and a sink.

So although spitting is already on the list of unpleasant behaviour, much like farting and burping, is it hazardous enough and preventable enough to outlaw it?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-10-17 01:12pm

There is no good reason to ban spitting in public, although I believe you can actually charge somebody for spitting on your person. It does not present a significant hygiene problem like widespread public urination would, simply due to the differences in sheer quantity. It does not present a significant health problem like public smoking; there is no spitting analogue to asthma sufferers experiencing an attack from walking through the wrong area. It does not present a significant safety problem like jaywalking.

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2006-10-17 01:21pm

I'll spit occaisonally in public, usually when I have a cold and no tissue to blow my nose in. I always aim for the gutter. On my bike, I'll try to bull's eye storm drains as I ride past.

Back in '88, I was on a trip to China. Everybody spits in public there. I had a nasty head cold at the time and when an eldery chinese lady let one fly on the street, I thought, "When in Rome..." I let loose such an impressive amount of phlegm that I got a look of awe and a nod of respect from the eldery lady.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-10-17 01:45pm

Yeah, China's a bastion of common hygiene. My view is that it's disgusting and should be avoided, but that ruling against it by law is just a waste of paper. As to the potential health issue, that depends on frequency of the person spitting and what they have. It is readily documented that aerosols form around microbe hot fluids on the ground, so having people just lob phlegm about in flu season isn't going to help matters. Vomit, of course, is a bigger issue, but more contained. Urine isn't even worth talking about, unless the person in question has a severe urinary tract infection.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2006-10-17 01:52pm

Surprisingly, in my state, there's a $200 fine for spitting on a sidewalk. IIRC, Grass is fine.

One of the resident Police Officers at my school told me it was simply because "People don't like waking on spit." He also told me of a time he caught a person standing on a street corner spitting. Apparently he had been there for a while, because there was a puddle forming from the spit. Wrote him a ticket on the spot.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-10-17 02:01pm

No laws, but it is unsightly and rude. If I ever feel the need to spit, I try to do it where it won't be seen by anyone.

Where I really dislike spitting is in Major League Baseball. Nothing is more disgusting that seeing players with wads of chewing tobacco spitting that shit all over the field or in the dugouts. Then again, I would ban players from using cherwing tobacco during the game or on the field.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2006-10-17 03:36pm

It isn't as much the chewing Tobacco anymore as it is the sunflower seeds. You can see it when the outfielders go back to the dugout between innings and there's a pile of shells in the outfield where the guy had been playing. Baseball has been turning away from spit tobacco for a while now.

I am against a full ban on public spitting, but I don't have problems with individual communities banning spitting on sidewalks or buildings, especially if it specifies things such as gum or chewing tobacco. I'm fucking sick of stepping around gumb and smoldering cigarette butts at school.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2006-10-17 03:38pm

Addition to above post:

It appears that baseball has tried to ban smokeless tobacco from televisied games (whether that only includes national broadcasts or all local market broadcasts as well i'm not sure.) but that opposition came from the players union.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=770799

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-10-17 04:42pm

[quote="Darth Fanboy"]It appears that baseball has tried to ban smokeless tobacco from televisied games (whether that only includes national broadcasts or all local market broadcasts as well i'm not sure.) but that opposition came from the players union./quote]

Yeah, well, I've seen in in a number of Phillies' games. When Sal Fazano was still catching for the Phillies earlier this year, there was a horrendously disgusting shot of him on TV pushing this enormous lug of tobacco out of and back into his mouth. It literally looked like a piece of shit.

I don't know, you can't smoke in most areas of the Phillies' ball park that I am aware of, so I don't see why the players should be allowed to chew either.

Winston Blake · Post by **Winston Blake** » 2006-10-17 10:11pm

Spitting could be classified as littering, like tossing cigarette butts all over the place (although it's biodegradable). I think it's fine as long as you spit into a bin or gutter. Spitting where people are walking should be treated like tossing small globs of any other infectious slime.