Smirting

Smirting is the practice of smoking and flirting outside public places such as pubs, bars, cafés, restaurants, and office buildings where smoking is prohibited.[1][2][3][4]

History

Smirting was first identified in New York in 2003,[5][6] and spread to the Republic of Ireland in 2004 when an aggressive smoking ban in public places was enacted.[7]

Smirting has been so successful that non-smokers try to mingle with the smirters.[5] The non-smokers may then start to smoke too and so this is a health risk.[8]

Sociologist and sexologist Pepper Schwartz states that the smirters are "defiant and angry, they don't buy the second-hand smoke argument, and want to share this grudge with someone else." When they are forced outside, smirters form strong bonds in what is essentially an exile community.[9] But this exile community has its rewards. One study found that 25% of Irish couples who had started a relationship during 2007 or 2008 had met while smoking outside.[5]

References
  1. Hughes, Sarah (2005-10-30). "Smoking ban lights up love life". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-04-18. 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.
  2. Griffin, Jon (2009-04-03). "Love is in the smoke air". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2009-04-18. The spectre on our doorsteps is smirting – flirting for smokers.
  3. Henley, Peter (2005-03-11). "Smirting". BBC. Retrieved 2009-04-18. They call it smirting. Like flirting, but more likely to succeed. [...] The Irish Government's ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants has forced smokers in the capital out on to the pavement.
  4. Patience, Martin (2004-04-25). "Dating scene wafts to sidewalks; Exiled smokers congregate and let the sparks fly". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2009-04-18. But the smirting scene presents the perils of any dating forum: unwanted attention.
  5. Soames, Gemma (2007-08-12). "Smoke signals - Forget clubs and bars – the best place to pull is out on the street, hanging with the smokers. Our correspondent discovers the art of smirting". The Times. First identified in Ireland – one study found that a quarter of Irish couples who got together over the past two years had met while smoking alfresco
  6. Chevron, Doris (2005). New York. Marco Polo Reiseführer (in German). Mair Dumont Marco Polo. p. 14. ISBN 3-8297-0159-4. Retrieved 2009-04-18. ... ihres Bürgermeisters Michael Bloomberg, nehmen die New Yorker es jetzt gelassen und üben sich in smirting - dem Smoke-Flirt beim Rauchen vor der Tür.
  7. McCann, Nuala (2007-05-01). "Romance blossoms at pub doors". BBC. Smirting took off in the Republic of Ireland in the aftermath of its smoking ban in 2004.
  8. Katie Evans. The art of smirting. BBC.
  9. Patience, Martin (2004-04-18). "Outcast 'smirters' have a new way to find light of their lives". San Diego Union-Tribune. A new term has appeared among daters to describe the outdoors smoking and flirting phenomenon: Smirting.
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