Every time someone brings this up, it reminds of an article in JCS. The guest designer equated saliva-wetting to "spitting on your needlework". Well, that was a little too disgusting...I gave up the designer. :) Forgot her completely...can't get that disgusting claim out of my head! :)

I see your point, ‘spitting’ is the wrong term to use so I can see why you dropped the designer. I honestly don’t see myself dipping the end of floss in a glass of water to wet it down OR to press the end of the floss against a damp sponge like I’m wetting stamps to put into my stamp collection books. Speaking of, does anyone remember the stamps collected from the supermarket and you would take them home and paste them into a coupon book which, when the book was filled, you would take it back to the grocery store to get credit to purchasing more groceries? Was it ‘eagle’ stamps? I remember licking the back of the stamps and putting them into the ‘booklet’ when I was a kid.

If the end really offends you, or you refuse to give up chocolate when stitching with white, cut off the wetted end! Easy solution. :)

I will keep wetting my thread as I was taught and the heck with the rest of the world.
I have a bottle of water next to me and it is certainly clear, although it's the cheapest sold here and the bottles are thin.

The most famous (and most popular) were S&H GREEN STAMPS! Even here among the deep redwood giants, there was a Green Stamps redemption center. My mom had books and books of them and gave them to us in the early 1970s. I have no idea how much it had cost to get the stamps with purchases, but I would bet thousands of dollars.
We got a giant, library-size, dictionary, which often settled Scrabble wars. We also got some cookware.
Too bad there are no "cross stitch stamps" given with each purchase...

I never thought of wetting the floss to thread it. I guess from years of sewing, I always "fold the floss (near one end)" into a loop, press tight against my finger with thumb nail (short nails work too), then put the "loop" through the needle. The only time this gets a bit tricky is when I have to use 4 or 5 threads for a stitch. Still use same principle, but break it down to 2 or 3 threads at a time, then get it all lined up after it has been pulled through the needle.

I picked it up (wetting the thread with my mouth) when I was 4-5 years old watching my mom and grandmother hand sewing hems.
I insist on my cocoa, so now swallowing some water afterwards to prevent the problem.

I’m a spitter if I’m doing cross stitch, but I fold and squeeze when doing needlepoint. (Wet wool doesn’t taste to good, and leave fuzzies in your mouth)

Ahhh, my floss is cotton...the breathable fiber LOL!