Word: spittin
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...South are guilty of taking scant notice of the letter "r" and naturally the phrase has come to be spoken as though it were "spittin' image...
However, the records on "spittin' image" should certainly be kept straight. I don't think that the expression has anything to do with saliva...
Sirs: Your ''spitting image" (TIME, Aug. 30. p. 11), which is meaningless, should have been "spit an' image." You doubtless have interpreted what you have heard "spittin' image," and, being punctilious, have supplied the g. You may supply the d for an', too, if you wish. Saliva, like blood, breath, etc., has been regarded, by many peoples of the world, as having supernatural potency, and, of course, intimately associated with one's being. In the folk-mythology of both hemispheres, saliva is often associated with conception. It is reported that among the Gypsies...