to think this is unacceptable?

Men urinating by the roadside is still common practice here in France.
I do object to the bottles of urine thrown from lorries into the verge.

When I was a school playtime assistant If I saw anyone spit on the floor I would call them over and make them pick it up, didn't go down too well but they had a choice, pick it up or have an hour detention on a Friday evening, wish I had the courage to do it now when I am out and about.

Just reading this makes me feel sick. It is really something that turn my stomach, especially when preceeded by a snort
yuk, yuk, yuk

Yes, there used to be notices up in buses and trams forbidding spitting. After TB was more or less under control, I think people forgot that spitting can be a health risk.

I agree it is disgusting, as is people doing what was called "blowing their nose the dirty way" when I was a child.

Men peeing in public? Likewise, but as far back as I remember men did so in the Glasgow area, the stench outside railways stations was something you had to experience to believe.

I hate it always have
I hate it when footballers do it

Got off a crowded train (which had functional toilets) one evening along with about a hundred other people and the young woman in front of me pulled down her jeans and urinated in the middle of the platform whilst the other travellers streamed past her. A few steps further on and a guy in front of me spat. I was completely horrified and went home to have a shower, despite the fact none of their bodily fluids had actually touched me.

It's horrible - turns my stomach too.

Suppose the footballers of previous decades didn't run that they didn't need to spit! Even though they wore heavy boots and kicked a heavier ball. Watch tennis players on course for hours albeit they have breaks. They don't spit out the liquids they take. Rugby players don't seem to spit as much either. Globules of spit all over the football pitch, yuck!. Seeing it in the street is awful, male smokers are very guilty of spitting but rarely see a female doing it. Suppose more females carry a tissue and blow their nose instead of hacking up spit. It's just gross.

There used to be much more spitting when chewing tobacco was in style. Bylaws were passed, but never, I think, a national law. The problem resurfaced in some parts of London, when betal (?) But chewing - followed by spitting - was practiced by some people. Of course, victims of the revitalised bylaw tended to be from one racial group... Apparently it's hard to catch TB from spit short of actually licking it up. And it was never any use sending library books in for sterilisation when there was an infectious disease at home - remember that one?

I agree it is gross thing to do and comment to husband how can men do this. The worst thing I hate to see is cyclist the all the gear and no idea type who put one finger on one nostril and blow out of the other near me so charming.

When I lived in Hong Kong, I believe that TB was quite common but also that spitting in the street was prohibited.
The solution: to spit into rubbish bins. This became doubly horrifying when you saw some of the impoverished street people rummaging through the same bins to look for any discarded cans or take/away food dishes

Some people suffer with phlegm on their chest which they cannot help cough up and I definitely would not expect them to swallow it although if this is the case they could spit it out more discretely or even spit it into a tissue.

You don’t see hockey players doing it and they run as much as footballers whilst wearing hideous plastic mouth guards. It is just ridiculous that it is considered acceptable

Even though spitting in a public place is a public health offence some councils have successfully charged public spitters with the offence of littering:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10332490/People-who-spit-in-public-face-prosecution-after-landmark-legal-ruling.html

It should be brought back as a public health offence if only to keep TB at bay.

Male footballers, typo.

Have never seen a woman spitting, is it normal in other cultures/ countries, so immigrants continue to do it here?
Make footballers do it all the time, but not women footballers.
In the past, spitting by men in the street was probably due to mining/ working in mills/ heavy smoking etc.
No excuse at all now, it’s disgusting.
I haven’t seen anyone actually spitting in public ( as yet!)

God alone knows why men indulge this disgusting habit - maybe they think it signifies strength of character/virility/toughness/don't-mess-with-me/ego/a thicko mentality.

Well, it doesn't! Except for a thicko mentality.

There's one city centre I now avoid as I used to return home to find phlegm on my clothes after visits. I was puzzled as to how this could have happened. On another visit all was revealed. I was watching some shoppers spitting, including a woman. She was able to indiscriminately spit several feet. Didn't know this was possible. It was obvious it came with practice!

chrishoops
Certain African/Guyanan cultures do that. One nostril then the other.
I had a work friend whose stepdad did it in the sink when I was there. When I later asked her why, she said he did it every morning as he said it was better than using a hanky.
I never went there again. Ugh!!

Totally disgusting. Abhorrent. IMO it's worse than swearing and I hate swearing. Many people from all walks of life, seem to have no manners or morals whatsoever and, as for their speech...

When I was young, there were notices on the buses: 'Spitting forbidden'. When I went to France for the first time in 1956, the notices said 'Défense de cracher'. TB was still rife in the 40s and 50s and could be carried by human saliva, so it wasn't just a disgusting habit but also a health hazard. Ours was the first cohort in school to have the BCG vaccination.

I'ts common to see young girl teens spitting too around here. I once asked dad why he spat in the street (1960's) & he said it was working in the coal mines. When I asked why he didn't spit in his handky his reply was "Because your mother would kill me". ?

REVOLTING !!!

Ive always thpught it revolting. It's true that when I worked in a secondary school some of the boys used to spit on the ground at brak times. I blamed footballers. Whet can't they clear their throats and swallow like ayone else?

I think spitting in public is common in countries in the far East. Butlers were warned about this habit if taking up positions in China and David Sidaris gave a stomach churning talk about this habit which he observed during his visit there.