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Terry Kruger
Co-ordinating Editor, NNSL
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Most of us have likely heard the phrase "spitting mad."
Judging from the amount of saliva and other mouth juices that fly around our city, there must be a lot of "P-O-ed" people in Yellowknife.
Just a few minutes before writing this column, I was walking along a 50th Street sidewalk and someone behind me coughed up a big loogie and let fly.
It was enough to turn the stomach.
Thankfully, I was far enough away to not hear the splat as the gooey projectile hit the ground.
Is it just me or is the amount of spitting that goes on out of control?
Recently, someone suggested Yellowknifer write an editorial about it, calling on people to swallow, rather than drop gobs of liquid on the sidewalk or wherever else they're standing.
I'm not sure if Yellowknifer is prepared to take a position on whether people should spit, but it certainly upsets me.
In the recent past, I've almost been hit by a flying gob.
Walking for coffee in the morning, I usually keep my eyes squarely focused on the sidewalk in front of me to avoid stepping in any gross landmines.
Sure it can be tough, given the fact the average person generates one to two litres of saliva every day, but it doesn't hurt to swallow it.
After all, saliva aids digestion. If you get a bit of nasal mucus in your mouth, I can understand the need to spit rather than swallow. But do it somewhere private, away from the public eye and ear - like a restroom. What's really disgusting are folks to cough up mucus just so they can spit.
It's also a juvenile thing to do. When I was a boy, it was cool to be able to spit a long way.
Some of us even admired those folks who could shoot a splash from between clenched teeth, getting a neat squirting noise as they let fly.
Unfortunately, it's not a problem unique to Yellowknife or the North.
In China, the government is trying to get people to clean up their act in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Just today, BBC reported that parking wardens in Barking & Dagenham county in England have been given DNA kits to collect samples from saliva as evidence to prosecute people who spit on them.
A conviction could result in three months in jail.
I'm not saying that I never spit. Sometimes, you just can't deal with the build-up of saliva and have to get rid of it.
Then there are bridges. The kid in me can't resist spitting from them.
- Terry Kruger is Co-ordinating Editor for Northern News Services. Call him at 873-4031 or e-mail editorial@nnsl.com