Why do men spit in public?

I wonder why they dispensed with the ban? Maybe because it wasn't enforced?

I saw a man spit in the street last week in Oxford. I’ve seen men do it everywhere all my life, except my husband who was taught to carry a handkerchief.

Spitting in public places was illegal until 1990 in the UK, for fear of spreading diseases like TB. Fine of £5. Some areas have reintroduced the ban.

I live in Lancashire and I'm afraid spitting in public seems to be a much "cherished" trademark of the male gender in this part of the UK.

It's revolting, anti-social and very un-clever.

Cavemen!

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Yes I've seen it more and more in recent years but never remember seeing it when I was younger. I glare pointedly(!) and have remonstrated with the offenders a couple of times, which at least made me feel better. Probably not wise but I channel my inner old schoolteacher and it always seems to work.

Vile habit isn't it, with a huge risk of spreading disease. Thank you for making the connection with wearing outdoor shoes indoors - not a good idea.

Wasn't spitting banned at one time because TB was a risk? Local Councils can now raise by-laws to ban it. Contact your council?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10191922/Eric-Pickles-gives-communities-power-to-outlaw-spitting.html

Otherwise how about taking to court for littering?

I hate it, and it’s become much more prevalent.
I’m sure the fact that some footballers seem to think it’s OK to spit on the field has made too many people think it’s acceptable instead of disgusting.

I well remember my first visit abroad (France) at 14, seeing ‘No Spitting!’ signs on trains, and thinking they wouldn't be needed at home.
Maybe still not on trains, but elsewhere....

I have not seen men spitting in the street since I was a child. MThe men of my family or otjher respectable people did not do tnhis even then, in the 1940s and 1930s.

A year or three ago a secondary schoolboy from one of the local schools, having just observed me and dog approaching, spat two paces in front of me and my dog. The large boy did not seem to be blind and I took this to be an intended insult to a dog. I stopped and crossed the road.

Spitting in the street is cultural .

It really turns my stomach too - makes me heave. I campaigned for the 'no spitting' rule at the college where I taught. The reasons I gave were to do with hygiene and TB awareness.

Should someone step in the spit (or put their bag on the ground) there's a (small but dangerous) possibility of infection when they then handle their shoes or bag (or put the bag on a table - another pet hate of mine).

The 'opposition' I received was complaints about 'It's our culture' from some ethnic minority students. I countered with the expectation that the local culture should be followed (just as I would be expected to do when abroad) and a new 'no spitting' rule was introduced on the campus.

We went to China and it was horrendously common. Again though, only men did it. It made me notice how common it had become here in the UK. Not in our local town though - I assume because someone who knew them might tell their mum.

Can't say I've seen anyone spitting for years.

Awful habit

Often see fellow across the road do it he's a smoker with COPD its horrible yuk!

Thank you @PamelaJ1. I had just assumed everyone was aware of the prevalence of spitting in China.
I wasn’t aware of it being done in this country any longer.

This has to be the worst germ-spreading and filthy habit that exists.
Surely anyone with respect would carry a tissue and dispose of it appropriately. There are some vile humans around.

Willow, I lived in HK, there was a lot of spitting. Maybe that’s what Espee was referring too.
It’s illegal there now.
Horrible.

Vile, disgusting, uncouth, gross, ill mannered, chavvy, plebby, add whatever you can think of!

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE

..was all set to post a reply on this subject when I read Terribullspost and the picture it conjured up has left me in stitches ??

Espee - no I don't live in China. What has that got to do with my question?

Only SOME men spit, not all of them. My husband and 2 sons have never done that, but then they've got good manners.

Or was it 5/-?
Suziewoozie . Possibly!

Maybe most men don't, but an awful lot do. Not just on playing fields. Its a disgusting habit which turns my stomach. I see mostly young lads doing it. Why? Don't they care that people witness them? Yeeugh!

It is vile, and I do remember signs at bus stops and so on warning people against it.

It was supposed to spread TB and other diseases. I don't know if that's very likely, but if so, given the anti-vax brigade and the way that long haul flights have made the spread of global epidemics more prevalent, maybe it should be made illegal again?

I don't know who would enforce a ban, though.

When one of my sons was about 15 or so we were out together and without any warning he just gobbed up and spat in the street, he was going through an unfortunate phase of extreme misplaced machismo at the time. Absolutely furious, my inner Margaret Thatcher rose to the fore, I handbagged him right there and then. Why do they do it, heaven knows, horrible habit, maybe they think it looks tough

I see it all the time, it is truly disgusting.
When I worked in a school, staff told me it was not an offence unless you were spat at by pupils.
It’s a vile habit.

Most men don’t !. You do see it on the sports fields and I suppose after physical exertion its forgivable. Occasionally I have seen youths doing it casually, I imagine it makes the feel cool or whatever. Years ago smokers spat regularly, spittoons were in pubs along with sawdust on the floor, in this area things have come a long way since then.