Coughing

What do you do when you cough?

- Some people cover their mouth with their hand and effectively seal away the germs, while forgetting that they coughed on their hand prior to shaking a person's hand and unwittingly spread their germs.
- Other people cough on a closed fist which actually spreads the germs over a wide radius, making holding your fist up to "cover" your cough actually pointless.
- Another alternative is to cough into the pit of your elbow where not many people would bother to touch you or come into contact with. The most sanitary way although a bit unorthodox. Me and one other person are the only ones I've ever known to do this, me having picked it up only recently.
- Some people don't cover their mouth at all. This is gross. I don't like when one friend doesn't even bother to cover his mouth and coughs freely into the air and into other people's faces. I can understand not covering one's mouth when no one it around or people are far away though.

What do you think of other people who cough a certain way?
Of course the above points apply as well.

Do you even think that one has to cover all his or her coughs? Sick coughs? Coughs from swallowing at the wrong time? Coughs for tickles in your throat when you're not sick?

How ya doing, buddy?

Coughing is the bane of my existence. Every single sermon I have ever recorded has had extreme amounts of coughing in it. Even during the summer! Even the priest! I know that they don't cough this much during their daily lives, so there must be something about sitting still and listening that compels them to cough, over and over.

God, I can't wait until the cardioid mic comes in.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Inside of my elbow. No joke.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Either I cover my mouth with the palm of my hand or cough into my arm. Depends on my situation. If it's really bad, then I cough into the inside of my shirt.

(It is NOT easy typing with a Wii-mote...)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I try to cover my mouth when I can. Usually my illness related coughs are the result of a nagging tickle (either caused by mucus or it being dry). Sometimes, my cough just builds upon itself til I sound like I'm going to hack up my lungs. (I hate those coughs the most)

I was speaking idiomatically.

I use my fist. And I'm sure to clench fairly tightly so that nothing gets inside the fist i.e. on my hand. I don't want to get sick or get others sick due to such a trivial faux pas on my account.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I cough downwards. (or sometimes on my arm)

Just a habit I guess.

FELIPE NO

Into my elbow. Used to do it into my hand, but then I realised that by shaking people's hands afterwards I was being an unhygenic troll.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I don't cough a lot, but when I do, I cover my mouth with the back of my hand. I also try to cough away from people. Sometimes when I'm sitting in a bus, a person behind me starts coughing one of those wheezing coughs and they don't cover up. It's annoying.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If I have to, I just use my lower part of my shoulder.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I cough into my hand most of the time. I don't cough as much as a smoker should, probably.

When I am around others, though - I instinctively cover my mouth. If I am alone somewhere, I just cough into the wide open. I don't think my cat minds too much. ^_^

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I cough into my hands as a force of habit but I've started carrying around a handkerchief just in case. I figure that it's better than to couch directly into my hands when I may need to use them for something else like shake someone's hand. Nobody wants lung phlegms passed on to them.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I use to cough into my left fist ('cause I'd shake hands with my right hand), but I started to cough into my arm - near the elbow like some of the people above have said.

How ya doing, buddy?

My quick-reflex is to cough into my hand, but if I know a cough is coming, I'll usually cough into my elbow or shoulder.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I cough onto the back of my left fist, I don't want people to think that I'm intentionally spreading germs if I cough onto my right hand and then shake hands with them.

How ya doing, buddy?

You just taught me my new thing of the day with that elbow trick. I used to just cough into my palm and then think nothing further of it. People are too obsessive about germs in general; shaking hands isn't the same as swimming in blood. Just wash your hands a few times a day and don't touch your face if you can help it. This should prevent most cootie-related deaths.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

By force of habit, I cough into my fist. But if I cannot, I tend to use my elbow or shoulder.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Inside of my elbow. I picked it up working in retail. Didn't want to cough into my hand and then have to be touching merchandise, computer keyboards, etc.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I cough into my fist, and I'm not sure I see anything wrong with that. Sometimes into my elbow though.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I cough into my elbow. I started doing it sometime in middle school, I think.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I definitely cough into my elbow, or, as odd as it sounds, into my shoulder. I work in a busy restaurant, so I need to cough or sneeze in one of those, just in case I don't have time to wash my hands before ringing someone out. I'm told that the elbow thing is most sanitary, and that's how nurses and such do it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm one of those arm guys. That's what they ask us to do at work we have to cough. Seeing as how we handle food and all that, coughing into the elbow is probably the best sense.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Up to the sky, down to the ground or away from someone through the side. Using my hand to cover it up though is not common for me, but I tend to do so in other formal occasions.

FELIPE NO

I usually cough into my fist out of pure habit. It's pointless and I realize that, but at least it looks better than doing nothing. The one thing I always do is to quickly turn my head away from any people or computers, because flecks of spittle on monitors/keyboards at public computers are incredibly disgusting.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

It's it a small cough out of itchiness NOT sickness, into my fist. Anything serious is something along the lines of into my armpit. Anything around dining situations, into my napkin.

Jam it back in, in the dark.