I knew before I went to Ireland, from Irish friends here mostly, that they refer to cigarettes as fags. It's hard to get used to for a PC girl like me, and even when I travelled in Ireland in November it would still shock me a little to hear that word bandied about. But nothing stopped me in my tracks like the sign I saw by the hearth at a little pub in Kiltulla: Please do not throw fags in gas fire.

By all means, please don't!