Spitting loogies is generally discouraged, but if necessary, it’s important to know how to do it properly. It can be done for medical reasons or as a form of aggression, but the latter is not recommended. The term “loogie” may come from “booger lung.”
It’s generally a good idea to keep most of your bodily fluids to yourself, especially if they can be described as loogies, luggies, lugies or green spits. Others will thank you for your self-control and courtesy, trust us. But if you feel the need to engage a loogie, you should at least have a working knowledge of basic gross tech.
To engage a loogie is to expectorate or spit out a generous supply of mucus thoughtfully stored in the throat and lungs. Some people find this easier to accomplish than others, especially if they are afflicted with chest congestion, smoke a lot, or have few reservations about coughing up their phlegm for visceral effect.
Sometimes a person may engage for purely medical, if not really cosmetic, reasons. Coughing up and expectorating excess mucus from the throat and lungs can temporarily relieve the uncomfortable feeling of fullness that accompanies a chest cold. In a self-medicating sense, coughing up phlegm can be seen as the equivalent of a sneeze to relieve nasal congestion. Perhaps activity should be limited to times when others are out of earshot, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with clearing an infected chest through a productive cough.
Others may decide to pawn a loogie for a decidedly different reason, however. The act of spitting saliva at another person has a certain psychological effect, but the gesture is often intensified by the generation of additional mucus to form a much larger and more insidious projectile. Recipients of a loogie assault generally remember the event long after the fact and recognize the underlying intent. Engaging in anger is considered a serious escalation in playground warfare and is generally reserved for the worst offenders.
The origin of the term loogie is a bit obscure, but some suggest it’s shorthand for “booger lung,” the equivalent of thick nasal mucus that sticks to the sides of the lungs until it’s forcibly expelled. Boogers and loogies are both favorite sources of gross-out humor for preteens who like to shock their friends and families with inappropriate acts of spitting and expectorating mucus.
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