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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2387 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 5, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Your stance is that spitting on the ground in front of another man is inherently aggressive and instigatory?

I mean, kind of? Not sure if it's obsolete or some regional deal, but I thought it was pretty universal & ancient that looking a guy in the eye (esp. when trash talk is going on), then spitting off to the side is a gesture of contempt at best, and essentially fighting 'words' in most cases?

See, um -- Darwin (!?), apparently: (thanks Google!)

Spitting seems an almost universal sign of contempt or disgust; and spitting obviously represents the rejection of anything offensive from the mouth. Shakspeare makes the Duke of Norfolk say, “I spit at him—call him a slanderous coward and a villain.” So, again, Falstaff says, “Tell thee what, Hal,—if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face.” Leichhardt remarks that the Australians “interrupted their speeches by spitting, and uttering a noise like pooh! pooh! apparently expressive of their disgust.” And Captain Burton speaks of certain negroes “spitting with disgust upon the ground.” Captain Speedy informs me that this is likewise the case with the Abyssinians. Mr. Geach says that with the Malays of Malacca the expression of disgust “answers to spitting from the mouth;” and with the Fuegians, according to Mr. Bridges “to spit at one is the highest mark of contempt.”

Granted most of his quotes do involve people spitting at others -- which is clearly even more aggressive -- but I personally would not spit to the side while talking to somebody unless I were looking for a fight.

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