is it just me?

so, the question for the day is: is it ever appropriate to spit on another person?

a couple of weeks ago, I was suffering through a bad Turkish movie at the local film festival in a weak attempt to prove that I am cultured. at some point during the basically plotless and decidedly uncompelling movie, we started to hear some murmuring from the back of the theatre. as it starts to escalate, we hear someone saying "don't fucking touch me". what? this is much more interesting than the movie. before too long, two guys are standing up, one of them offering to "take this outside" and the other one telling him to "sit the fuck down". again, what? we're at a film festival. in the midwest. it should be filled with mild-mannered nerds. lovers, not fighters. so finally, the guy who started yelling first (and was upset about being touched) gets up, spits on the people next to him, and leaves. Now, you could hear him spit. But just in case you weren't sure, the lady next to him says "he spit on me!" and the guy next to her says "he spit on me too!" unbelievable.

I think the reason this seemed particularly outrageous was that it was so hopelessly out of context. I would argue that spitting indoors is rarely appropriate, and spitting on other people almost never is. But certainly not when you are in a Turkish art movie, and copious amounts of alcohol are not involved. I forgot to mention that before we heard the murmuring we heard really really loud snoring. Our best guess is that someone tried to wake up the snorer, and he was probably drunk which caused the snoring, so he woke up mad. But spit on people? Honestly. So, if you can think of a situation in which spitting on someone is appropriate, let me know.
What made me think of this today is I was standing waiting in line for a sandwich, and a college age woman who was unlocking her bike outside the restaurant spit on the ground. I found this surprising. So, I would also like to know if you think it is acceptable for men or women or both to spit in the middle of the sidewalk. I guess if you really must, go ahead, but if you're a girl you might want to be a touch discreet about it.