Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Stain]

Korea is pretty bad when it comes to spitting, but it's far worse in professional baseball. I don't have a study on that.

[AsiaESLbound]

I dodge big wads of thick disgusting mucus every day with fancy footing where a lot of people have a bad respiratory infection so they are harking up phlegm in disgust. I don't know what it is causing such high bad bacteria other than bad hygiene and foul manners in such a high pop density environment which is why many of us have complained of being constantly sick with cold and flu symptoms. The grimy streets with shallow sewers venting odors really do stink of rotting bacteria and it only takes 1 day for a foreign visitor to understand why shoes are checked at the door. I can imagine Beijing, China being the world's cradle of germs, bacteria, flu, and colds. Technology and economic development doesn't determine 1st world living standards; habits and customs determine a 1st world quality of living.

People seem to go months or even years with such bacterial infections where they just cough up all this phlegm mucus feeling fatigued and quick to anger. I didn't appreciate being spat on several times while walking. I've become religious about laundry, apartment cleaning, and opening windows at work. Korea isn't the only place that opens windows in the Winter as that's commonly done in less developed countries in attempt to prevent germs and infections. The bacteria really is kicken'...

[byrddogs]

[creeper1]

Well in the case of Beijing the air is absolutely filthy most of the time (unimaginable for those in Korea actually) and this explains a lot of the spitting.

Whether you want to spit or not you have no option while in Beijing. Your lungs respond to the poisons by excreting mucus.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/beijing-issues-smog-warning-as-scientists-say-pollution-cuts-life-expectancy-by-15-years-9065204.html

[atwood]

The Chines (used to?) believe the spit was a small devil in your throat and you had to keep spitting it out.

At least that's what I read in a James Clavell novel about HK.

[neilio]

i don't mind the spitting.

It's better than coughing and sneezing which gets the mucus airborn.

Spitting not so bad. Unless it's a chick, then that b should be jailed.

[Smithington]

[tiger fancini]

[cj1976]

Spitting is clearly an unsavoury act but it does have a time and place. In a quiet back alley aimed into a sewage grate is not that bad if one is coughing up a lung. However, in public places where people congregate or in the middle of the footpath is a bit filthy. It's natural and healthy to expectorate sometimes but just use some discretion.

[Steelrails]

[le-paul]

[Sector7G]

On the flip side, many Koreans think that blowing your nose in public is vulgar, and after thinking about it, I have to say that I tend to agree with them. It's just that most westerners are more desensitized to it, just as most Koreans are desensitized to spitting.

[Stain]

[optik404]

[le-paul]