Why Do Men Spit?
A week or so ago, I was stuck behind a long line of cars and trucks, waiting to merge onto the freeway. We sat there for quite awhile, feeling the bounce and buzz of traffic in the opposite lane speeding by.
The driver in front of me stuck his head out the window of his pick-up truck and spit on the tarmac. Then a funny thing happened. The driver in front of him—who had not observed the first expectoration—leaned out of his own sedan and spat too. During the ten minutes or so we sat there, edging minutely forward, they took turns spitting, perhaps half a dozen times in all.
Why do men spit? I thought about it as traffic got moving. I was still thinking about it when I exited to get gas. About a block and a half ahead of me, a solitary man strolled with his dog. I stared absently in their direction, not really focusing my eyes. Suddenly the man bent toward the curb…and spat.
Still pondering, I listened to a podcast of Fresh Air. Zack Hample, the guest, was a professional baseball fan (he writes books telling people how to improve their own fandom). The interviewer, Dave Davies, asked him why baseball players spit. It went with chewing tobacco, Hample said, a deeply male activity. Even though relatively few players chew these days, the habit of spitting lingers. Sort of a memento, I guess.
Last night two of my women friends visited. One is a great runner. I posed my question. “Yes, why do men spit?” she replied, equally perplexed. “I stopped running the Bay to Breakers [a San Francisco marathon] because of it. I’d be running between two of them and I kept getting hit in the eye. Yuck!”
My other friend had her mind on different things. She’d had a confusing experience with a man she’d known for a while. When she asked him what it meant, he’d given her a long, complicated, and completely uninformative answer.
“Isn’t that frustrating!” I said. “I don’t get men at all.”
“Neither do I,” she said.
As soon as I began to get exercised on her behalf, it popped right out: “I mean, why do men spit?”
Now this icky image is stuck in my head as the symbol of everything I find incomprehensible about so many of the opposite sex. Help!
I don’t want everyone to be the same, really I don’t. There are so many things I like about men: the way they bend down to a child’s height and make their voices gentle, the way they offer to help you with something heavy, or the way so many of them selflessly take on brutal work as an expression of love and support for their families—not to mention many things inappropriate to a G-rated blog. But there are other things I can’t begin to comprehend, and the more I think about them, the more the gap between Venus and Mars doesn’t seem big enough to contain my bafflement.
So help me out: what is it? Why do men spit? (Not all men, of course, but more than enough.) Do they have more saliva than women? Does something distasteful gather in their throats? Are they marking territory? I really need to know.
August 17th, 2007 at 12:03 am
I suppose they’re just conforming to others’ expectorations.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I don’t know but I think it is discusting in this day and age. Also, I believe the protein it the $**? also stains the sidewalks. I see black marks all along the nice sidewalks and have come to the conclusion that maybe they do mark their territory.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
ps.
My Dad used to use a hanky and so did my grandfather.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I think some do it to assert their maleness, like women sucking in their guts. You see it’s like a bird preening during mating season, or someone strutting to show off their mental state. Like notice when there are a lot of glass windows, women watch themselves all the way, tossing their heads, especially if they are something to look at. Fat women won’t look at their views as often. Men seem to spit more when they feel their territory is being invaded or perhaps to impress a female. Weird, but this is only my perception. I’ve noticed you can tell what the person thinks about themself just watching them walk. Gangbangers sort of strut stroll, and women who think they are hot, kind of have a lot of body motions that make them noticeable. A spitter might be doing that too, howeve disgusting as it is.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Thank you, for the information about . “Why men spit” Sure is a silly habit.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I guess the best answer would be learned from one of the players. I also noticed that most all of them have what I call “chin fuzz.” Whats that all about? It sure does not make them at all attractive even with all of their money.
March 28th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I was searching the internet for an answer. I am a guy, but I see so many guys spitting. I saw a guy spitting while I was looking out the window, and I wondered “why?” And that hasn’t been the first time around where I live. Just something I’ve noticed and thought was strange…and gross. I think the person has nothing better to do…like people who “fake” yawn. Do you know what I am talking about? Or people who stay attached to their cell phones when they are by themselves, say, in a grocery store or other place and they are all alone. It’s like they don’t know how to act when by themselves, so they invent something to do…whatever….
April 5th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I am so glad to have found this page as I just went into the ASK website and asked the same queation. This past week I have seen 5 occurrences of men spitting. The worst was when I was walking behind two men and first one spit and then the other followed and I had to skip my way around the gooey-gobs!! I really don’t think they were making their marks as I am sure they didn’t even realize they were doing it. This habit falls in the same category as to why men sitting @ red lights have to pick their noses!! LOL!!!
May 29th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I am not arrogant but I understand I am a fairly attractive person. I’ve noticed many many times guys spitting upon my approach. I think they do it because they are a little insecure. It makes them feel more manly especially when they are confronted with a possibly handsome guy in their midst. When I was on my bike the other day, I passed a man on the opposite sidewalk and he coughed up and loud flemmy and it pissed me off, so just after I passed him, I tried to mimick him, just to show the guy how disgusting it sounds. Today driving I passed a runner who saw me and I could see him going through the motions of clamming. It gets me riled and pissed off when guys do this. I though, am guilty of putting my finger in my noise at red lights, lol.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:40 am
I spit. It’s very random though.
Spitting while running is normal. Just go to a running forum and you will see. Running builds up a lot of mucus, you can try to swallow it, but you’ll more likely choke on it.
When I spit at random, I don’t really know why I do it. I just don’t like the taste of swallowing saliva I guess. I’m a good looking guy, don’t smoke/do drugs, it’s just a habit I have. I don’t think its gross. I try to refrain from doing it when women are around me. Other men don’t usually care.
Also, it can be a sign of disrespect to another person. Although, I don’t do this to other people.
June 20th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I am so glad to see I am not the only one who is absolutely disguested by men spitting. In this day and age of anti-bacterial awareness everywhere, who do men think they are by thinking they can just spit and spew all those germs freely in the air. YUK!! Get some manners.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I have wondered this for years and finally though to check Ask Jeeves. Men don’t spit in the house but they spit as soon as they walk outdoors. Why? What is in their mouths on the other side of the door that is not there when they’re inside? My husband is a very clean person, but as soon as he goes out in the yard, he spits. I’ve asked him, in a nice way, because I really want to know, why he spits. I have yet to receive an answer. I don’t think he has one, although he seemed embarassed when I asked him. But it’s disgusting, especially on a walkway, and it makes you never want to walk in the grass in bare feet again. It can’t be healthy for the rest of us.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I actually had this discussion with my boyfriend. I asked him if it had anything to do with the fact that he was a professional athlete. He is a retired Championship Boxer. He said he didn’t think it had anything to do with sports that it was simply a way of an Alpha Male marking his territory. He said he had been told that by a friend who is a psychologist. I guess I will have to settle for that explanation! God Bless You All.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
My husband said he does it because he gets a lot of excess saliva in his mouth and he thinks its grosser to swallow it. He also told me an interesting factoid which is that when men stand side by side at the urinals they often will spit one after the other into the latrine! Weird animals we are.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I spit because I won’t swallow my excess saliva. I’ve been doing it since I was about 8 or 9. I remember a female teacher giving me a lecture about it. I blew it off and continued doing what I deemed a natural necessity. I really do not consider it being a gross or disrespectful gesture.
July 29th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Men do it because they don’t give a care what women think. Same thing with belching and passing gas. A true gentleman would not do any of those things to be noticed…but they are few and far between.
November 4th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
A couple guys have commented about “excess saliva” or “mucus.” This is utter nonsense. And the guy who thinks it’s a necessity? Medication and counseling. After all, you swallow tons of saliva when you’re eating. The saliva is there to facilitate eating and digesting, and to keep your teeth healthy.
Now, about all those guys who constantly adjust themselves…
November 27th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
listen to yourselves. one person’s solution is “medication and counseling”. this is becoming ridiculous. my answer to the question why men spit? just deal with it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I’ve had this question for years. I’m male and can’t remember the last time I spit. I began asking this question when watching baseball with friends. Now it seems there are more and more football players spitting. I am watching the Olymic’s right now where I saw a skier spit before launching himself down a snowy ramp to hurl himself through the air to land on his feet without killing himself. One second prior to launch, he spit. I don’t get it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I would also like to add that there is an increase in M.R.S.A. cases among athletes. Has anyone looked into whether this may be the cause?