| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
03 Nov 2005 12:31:50 PM |
| Object: |
OT: Smoking ban lights up love life |
The article is suggesting that the Irish smoking ban
is promoting smoking because people are hooking up
when lighting up.
I say let 'em. Smokers can pair off and get cancer
if they like, just leave the non-smokers to get
together.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1604620,00.html
I have truly never understood why any non-smoker
would date one. As the saying goes, "Kissing a
smoker is like licking a dirty ashtray."
Bob Dog
Atheist #153 = 1^3 + 5^3 + 3^3
EAC's chief cook and brainwasher
-----
"Half the bible is nothing but
who to kill and how to kill them."
- 2, The Ranting Gryphon
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Smoking ban lights up love life
Sarah Hughes
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
The days when smoking was cool are supposed to be long gone.
Puffing on a cigarette spells social death and smokers are
supposed to be out of fashion. That's the theory. In fact, in
Ireland - where a complete ban on smoking in bars, pubs and
restaurants has been in place for over a year - having a quick
drag has replaced speed dating as the best way to spice up your
love life.
The cosy courtyard of the Temple Bar pub in Dublin looks, at
first glance, like any other outdoor venue on a sunny evening.
People stand around drinking, gossiping and moaning about work.
But look closer and you'll find a different situation. Everyone
is smoking and, in between drags on those ever-present
cigarettes, they are practising their best, light-hearted
chat-up lines as well.
Welcome to the practice of smirting (smoking and flirting), a
craze which has swept Ireland since the introduction of the pub
and restaurant smoking ban in January 2004. As it took hold,
enterprising pubs and bars introduced outside areas for smokers
to gather and with them came a more relaxed attitude to meeting
people. Now, instead of spending time in crowded bars, people
find themselves striking up conversations over a quick fag.
'It's brilliant,' says David Conlon, 24, of the ban's unexpected
side-effect. 'You spend your time going in and out from the bars
to the outside areas and that's a great way to get meeting
people. There is definitely more pulling, just because you're
inevitably chatting to way more girls during a night. There's
nothing sleazy about asking for or giving someone a light or a
cigarette, so you don't feel as stupid as you would just going
up to a girl in a pub.'
On one level, it is unsurprising that those hanging out in
smoking areas seem to be having more fun. Smoking is an
intrinsically social habit - as TV shows from The Office to The
Smoking Room have shown. You meet a wider mix of people and the
opportunities to start a conversation are many and easy. 'It's
no problem talking to people,' says Dave Collins, 26. 'One of
the most popular lines is "so what do you think about the ban?"'
Nor is it simply hardened smokers who hang out outside. 'In
Ireland more women tend to smoke than men, so the ratio is
pretty favourable if you want to pull,' says Conlon. 'I have
mates who weren't really smokers at all but they'd go outside
and say "can I crash a cigarette off you" and everything would
just take off from there.'
This increase in social smoking is one of the more worrying
aspects of smirting. Anti-smoking campaigners believed that the
ban would improve health and stop people smoking. But many young
Dubliners admit that they have increased their consumption of
cigarettes because of the social benefits.
'Definitely,' says Conlon. 'I'm not much of a smoker - I used to
hate it when you'd sit around in a pub and it was smoky and
you'd come home at night with your clothes stinking. Now you
just pop out for a quick cigarette, meet some quality people and
have a laugh.
'I met my last girlfriend in a cafe on Dawson Street. I had been
talking to her briefly, then went out for a smoke. When I came
back, she says to me: "Do you smoke ... coming out for one?" We
went out for two months.'
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| User: "Elroy Willis" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Smoking ban lights up love life |
03 Nov 2005 02:23:39 PM |
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wrote in alt.atheism
The article is suggesting that the Irish smoking ban
is promoting smoking because people are hooking up
when lighting up.
I say let 'em. Smokers can pair off and get cancer
if they like, just leave the non-smokers to get
together.
The smokers will be the ones who survive the next volcano eruption and
ash cloud fallout. Their lungs are already used to it, and it won't
bother them, meanwhile, all the non-smokers will be dropping like
flies, whining about the smelly ashes and smoke...
--
Elroy Willis
www.elroysemporium.com
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| User: "kathryn" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Smoking ban lights up love life |
03 Nov 2005 06:14:18 PM |
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"Elroy Willis" <elroywillis@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:q67km1lksaba3mc1hhdll51is55vpb05o0@4ax.com...
bg12345@apexmail.com wrote in alt.atheism
The article is suggesting that the Irish smoking ban
is promoting smoking because people are hooking up
when lighting up.
I say let 'em. Smokers can pair off and get cancer
if they like, just leave the non-smokers to get
together.
The smokers will be the ones who survive the next volcano eruption and
ash cloud fallout. Their lungs are already used to it, and it won't
bother them, meanwhile, all the non-smokers will be dropping like
flies, whining about the smelly ashes and smoke...
--
Elroy Willis
www.elroysemporium.com
Before dying of cancer
.
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