American English: Spit or Spat

Question

Hello,What is the Simple Past and Past Participle of the verb "spit"?Merriam-Webster show both, but which is most commonly used in the USA? Thank you!

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

This is part of the words that Paul Anka wrote for a French song which Frank Sinatra sang in English:

Yes there were times I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all
And I stood tall and did it my way

My Way was composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. As you can see, spit is used. I have met English people who didn't believe that spit was used instead of spat in American English. One of them was an English Elvis impersonator in Majorca. He used to sing I ate it up and spat it out until I corrected him. He also pronounced ate in the British way.

Paul Anka used to tell his audiences in Las Vegas that he wrote My Way for Sinatra but that isn't exactly true. He only wrote the English lyric for it. Incidentally, the original French words and the story about an old man depicted in Anka's words have nothing to do with each other.

CB

Zoltán Király · Answer

If she uses spit like Jessica Simpson "Between You and I" (subject pronoun in the object position) then I'm sure she's correct.

So, is any native American here?

American English: Spit or Spat

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