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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To say smoking does look cool?

370 replies

BeachOrPool · 09/02/2018 21:48

Yes, I know inhaling thousands upon thousands of cancerous chemicals definitely isn't cool!

But there's something about some people lighting up a cig and looking into the distance that looks rather cool and 'suave' to me Grin

I always picture having a deep conversation with a mysteriously handsome but dark horse of a person, looking far into the distance as they respond to my dilemma "That's life, Soph" or some other talk that included clever sayings that I can never think to use at the right moment.

It looks cool.

My executive assistant aunty use to look very classy sitting with her legs crossed and smoking a cig, whilst listening to my dilemmas
I just want to put it out there that I've never so much as taken a puff of a ciggy Blush

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
leighdinglady · 10/02/2018 16:06

I think it looks chavvy and common

WeAllHaveWings · 10/02/2018 16:52

"I have to ask why people are so opposed and judgemental about smoking when it has no effect on their lives whatsoever”

It stinks and the smoker stinks. It’s not pleasant working beside someone who goes out to smoke several times a day and comes back stinking so badly it makes you want to gag. Or sitting beside someone the bus reeking of fag smoke.

Its not nice walking through a cloud of smoke outside pubs and restaurants.

It’s not nice sitting in a beer garden in the summer eating grub with an inconsiderate smoker nearby.

Its not nice worrying your dc will try smoking and get addicted because a friends does it at 13 because they are copying their parents.

It’s not nice watching your dad attached to an oxygen machine for the last 3 years of his life, just so he could breathe. Watching him struggle to have enough breathe to get up and go for a pee in time and wets himself.

Yep, no effect on my life what so ever Hmm.

user1485342611 · 10/02/2018 16:55

The 'it has no effect on other people's lives' is typical of the kind of denial smokers indulge in. They refuse to admit that smoking in pub and restaurant gardens in Summer is annoying for non smokers, or that cigarette smokers often stink, or that it is uncomfortable for non smokers to have to walk through a group of smokers when they want to go in and out of the buildings whose doorways they huddle together in.

GnotherGnu · 10/02/2018 17:02

Why be so sure smoking can never have any effect on someone else's life, HairyHands? People's lives are certainly affected if they have to walk through clouds of smoke from people smoking outside doorways, or if they can't eat outside a pub on a nice day because other people would be blowing smoke over their food, or if they end up with stinking clothes and hair because people have been smoking around them. And people whose family members and loved ones have died early of smoking-related illnesses are definitely affected.

gussyfinknottle · 10/02/2018 17:06

Mum's smoking made me smell and took her from me too young. Other than that, it had no affect on me. What a stupid notion, Hairyhands.

YTho · 10/02/2018 17:09

In fictional life such as movies it can be made to look cool. But the people I'm watching smoking in real life are not cool or glamorous. They're huddled outside cold and puffing overpriced smoke, basically burning money to inhale poison. It's illogical and when I see a smoker I just think 'why??'

ChrisS36 · 10/02/2018 17:41

The day will come soon enough when you will be arrested for smoking tobacco

trixymalixy · 10/02/2018 18:09

My Dad went through a cancer scare at the end of last year. He was told they were 99.5% sure he had inoperable lung cancer and the biopsy was just to confirm. He’d never smoked. The thought of losing him was devastating for us all, particularly my Mum.

We were lucky, it turned out to be TB. Now I feel quite angry when I see people smoking. It’s so fucking stupid.

gussyfinknottle · 10/02/2018 19:16

Driving while drunk might look cool to the op.

ILikeyourHairyHands · 11/02/2018 03:04

Cool obvs.

To say smoking does look cool?
TheDowagerCuntess · 11/02/2018 04:25

I know there's been a lot of snobbery on this thread, but these days, smoking does look really un-classy.

The only people who do it any more are people who look otherwise unhealthy, and clearly don't care enough about themselves.

I know it's hard to quit (I was a social smoker back in the day - obviously not as addicted as a regular smoker, but still needed to give up).

But the fact is, many, many, many people have given up smoking because they know it's so bad for them. Yes, it's hard to quit, but it's absolutely not impossible, as thousands upon thousands of people have proven.

We parked the car up today and standing there out of the rain, were three smokers. They all looked terrible. Pasty, overweight, haggard, grim.

That's what smokers invariably look like these days. Mostly all four, but definitely at least one of those descriptors (smokers: choose your favourite).

The days of looking like Betty Draper or James Dean are long gone. It really is a loser's game.

squoosh · 11/02/2018 04:49

It seems to me that for some people it's not enough to feel scornful about smokers, the smokers must know that scorn is being poured upon them by the people who have 'parked up' to have their sandwiches.

squoosh · 11/02/2018 04:54

Cleaning ladies and granddads with 'sovrittin' rings smoke.

Absolutely NO idea what a 'sovrittin' ring is. I must ask a cleaning lady to translate your slang the next time I see one pass.

LemonShark · 11/02/2018 06:30

Cleaning ladies and granddads with 'sovrittin' rings smoke.

Yes, along with many rich celebrities and wealthy people, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.

You sound lovely. Nice bit of classism and sneering at necessary jobs we need done for our society to function.

IfNot · 11/02/2018 11:04

Oh yes. We have had "cleaning ladies" "chavvy" "pasty and overweight" "poor" "sovrirtin ring (assuming sovereign ring)"
Basically, it looks working class (ew!)
A lot actors do smoke though-it's all that waiting around they do.
Which is BAD. Obviously. But not everyone who smokes is a fat, pasty uneducated thick cleaning lady..

Jaygee61 · 11/02/2018 11:08

Prince Harry smoked until recently. Duchess of Corneall used to also.

Jaygee61 · 11/02/2018 11:08

Cornwall.

Charismam · 11/02/2018 11:18

lemonshark you're making assumptions. I'm talking dispassionately about perceptions and the associations smoking holds now and this does contribute to why younger people aren't taking the habit up now. it is perceived to be for cleaning ladies, granddads with sovrittin rings etc.. (yes, sovereign).

Obviously prince Harry and the duchess of Cornwell don't hhave to worry about perceptions! they can talk and eat with their mouths open and lick their knives and eat round carrots if they bally well want to.

Babbitywabbit · 11/02/2018 11:27

Isn’t it compulsory to be overweight and wearing cheap leggings with half your arse hanging out if you’re a smoker nowadays?

Charismam · 11/02/2018 11:27

toomanypaws I used to worry about a friend who took up vaping. It was just a more efficient way to get the nicotine in the system quickly, uninterrupted by being at work, on the train, in a restaurant or in a bar or around children. This friend vaped 24/7 from what I could see. Vapers will have to carry tanks of nicotine around on their backs soon if they don't use vaping how it's supposed to be used, some vapers are patting themselves on the back for having given up vaping but their addiction to nicotine has become more severe.

mommytoboo86 · 11/02/2018 12:37

cool, sexy, bad boy lol
I do smoke but even before I started I thought it looked cool and badass. Wasn't until I met my now dh that I thought it was sexy. And I agree about the reversing wen he turns his body towards me and puts his arm around the head rest.
It's the way he does it though... wen he lights up he looks straight at me and gives me this look it does something to me.
I swear he knows despite me never telling him cos he gives me the same look wen he reverses the car but adds a little smirk in there as well

Funnily enough my dh has never smelt of smoke even wen I gave up during pregnancies and his boss didn't even know he smoked until the xmas party 9 months after he started he hasn't got brown teeth either.
My dad on the other hand stinks and it makes me gag sometimes. Maybe the difference is my dad smokes indoors were as me and dh never have??

mommytoboo86 · 11/02/2018 12:57

lol at 'cleaning ladies' my cleaning lady husband earns £10 an hour as do his female collegues, so how much do u earn to not be lobed in with 'our sort' chrismam??

gussyfinknottle · 11/02/2018 12:59

So may think it's a class thing. Not in my experience.
To the pp who thinks her dh looks cool lighting up, maybe he looks cool shooting up too. Try that.
My mum who died recently of lung cancer (mid 80s) gave up in her late 70s having smoked since 13. If she can, anyone can. I have a dear cousin who smokes as an emotional prop. I wish she wouldn't. I still love her very much . It will kill her.

StatelessPrincess · 11/02/2018 13:19

I said on the unpopular opinions thread that it looks cool but to be fair that's mostly in films, I do know people of all classes that smoke though, the snobbery on here is ignorant and embarrassing.

mommytoboo86 · 11/02/2018 13:20

@gussy he used to wen he was younger (15-19 got clean wen his partner told him she was pregnant) and it wasnt cool or sexy but watching the mother of his older children die in front of him throu od didnt look cool or sexy either, but then as far as I know no1 ever dies from 1 fag whereas u can easily die from just 1 hit of smack so not really comparable.

I'm not saying smoking fags doesn't cause health problems but a) whose to say that person wouldn't be ill anyway (my aunty died of breast cancer at 32 never smoked in her life) and b) where's the body atonamy that every tells us we have??

Some smokers are ignorant I agree but it's not because they smoke it's because they are selfish assholes who shouldn't be allowed children if they are going to continue. I smoke outside, with a jacket on I then take that jacket off put it in the shed we have by the door and then brush my teeth and wash my hands before I touch my kids. I never smoked in the car with kids even before it was made illegal. If I'm smoking in public and see a child approach I will move the fag to the other side and if I've just taken a drag I will hold that breath until we've passed each other. I do not stand in porches by doors and in pub gardens I move to a spot far away from other people. I do not allow my kids to go into the homes where the people smoke indoors either but then like I said I'm not an asshole
xx