I was never much of a spitter

Okay, so that clearly did not come out the way it was supposed to. But really. I never was. I suppose I was just way too demure of a youngster to hone the *fine art of spitting. Or hocking loogies.

Is that how you spell Loogies? 

I always figured spitting was for the boys. And female tobacco chewers (so no one thinks that I’m just being sexist).

I did give spitting a try, mind you, like the one time I tried to spit out a car window and it ended up splattered against the glass and on my face. 

Thus ended my not-so-illustrious spitting career.

That is until I was asked to spit as part of the **23andme genotyping kit. But I figured I wouldn’t be asked to do it out of the window of a 1974 Honda Civic 4 speed. And how much spit do they actually need?  If you can get DNA samples from a mouth swab, chances are you’re just going to need a little puff of spit. Glob? Loog? 

Whatever.

Then I poured my gigantic, award winning glob into the tube, saw that I was still a good mile from the fill line, and realized that I’d be spending the entire episode of Grey’s Anatomy spitting.

Swirl your tongue, pop it in the tube, repeat 500 times.

But I sort of get where they’re coming from, well, aside from the medical and analytical standpoint of needing a decent amount of spit. It’s the sense of achievement you get from actually making it to the line. So you’re not winning a marathon or anything, but when you’re already almost completely devoid of fluids thanks to post partum hormones and the incredible breastfeeding leech, er baby, it’s pretty darn special to hit that fill line.

So not only should I be thanking 23andme for helping me learn more about my ancestry, they also highlighted the fact that I really do need to get out more.

*The 23andme genotyping analysis requires you spit into a tube. Amazing what they can learn about you just from your spit.

**On Saturdays I'll be posting about my 23andme adventures

Comments

[Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com]

Yeah, I was never much of a spitter either. We used to sit on the porch and spit watermelon seeds in the summer. I hated watermelon, so I'd steal seeds from the other kids to spit.

One time, the other kids dipped the seeds in chili powder when I wasn't looking.

I have not had the urge to spit since.

[Melissa]

I can't wait to find out more about this adventure also.

Also, did I miss something? Are you not doing the Motherhood Uncensored podcast anymore?

[Asianmommy]

Can't wait to find out more about this adventure. :)

[fiona]

My allergies have been producing lots of loogies lately...

[psumommy]

The spitting was probably more interesting than this week's Grey's rerun...heh.

[SuZ]

My mouth is watering just reading this... I need to spit! :)