Buzz
When someone refers to you as 'the spitting image' of your mother, it’s clear they mean you resemble her closely. However, much like phrases such as up to snuff, made from scratch, and many others, the literal meaning of spitting image remains puzzling to most contemporary English speakers.
Interestingly, even linguistic experts find it somewhat enigmatic: There’s no consensus on how spitting image originated. According to Merriam-Webster reports, the prevailing theory suggests the phrase began as spit and image—with spit historically meaning 'exact likeness' since the early 1800s. The reason behind this usage is unclear, though some speculate it’s a shortened version of saying, 'You resemble so-and-so so closely that it’s as if you were spit from their mouth!' This idea appears in texts from the late 16th century onward, including George Farquhar’s 1698 play Love and a Bottle, where Mrs. Trudge exclaims, 'Poor Child! He's as like his own Dadda, as if he were spit out of his mouth.'
Over time, people began using 'the very spit' to describe someone’s striking resemblance to another. For instance, in an 1810 entry from The New Newgate Calendar, a nurse remarked that a child was 'the very spit of the old Captain.' This phrase later transformed into spit and image, which may have been misheard as spitten image, eventually leading to variations like spittin’ image, spitting image, and even splitting image.
Whether spitting image qualifies as a mistake hinges on how long a phrase must exist to be deemed technically correct. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of spitting image dates back to 1929, while spittin’ image appeared as early as 1901.
However, as noted earlier, not all experts agree on this linguistic evolution. Some argue it’s a shortened form of spirit and image, a less common way to emphasize resemblances between individuals. Others propose it was borrowed from a French expression. Additionally, some suggest spit might not refer to saliva at all. As Yale linguistics professor Laurence Horn noted in a 2004 paper later cited in the Chicago Tribune, spit could metaphorically allude to 'a different bodily fluid … more directly tied to the transfer of genetic material.'
