Spit Take

A variant of The Take to an unexpected event that involves spraying food or, more commonly, drink from a character's mouth. In some cases, the character sprays their drink out of their nose instead of their mouth. It can be Truth in Television, as many people can attest, though in real life, unexpected laughter is more likely than shock to induce such a reaction. The non-eating version is generally a "pfft". Why surprising news or the punchline of a joke is so often delivered when a character has a full mouth can only be ascribed to Rule of Funny. May also be part of an I Ate WHAT?! reaction to the efforts of a Lethal Chef or Cordon Bleugh Chef. A common Lampshade Hanging for this trope is when a character pauses to take a drink just so he has something to spit out in reaction. See also: Double Take, Dramatic Drop, Discreet Drink Disposal, and Stopped Dead in Their Tracks. Not to be confused with Spit Shake. Compare Spraying Drink from Nose, which is usually caused by laughter instead of surprise. Unrelated to Spit Shine.