Comment by deesep | Hacker News Reader

Comment by deesep | Hacker News Reader

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I started smoking when i went to study in China. Someone gifted me an expensive brand of cigarette, and I kept it hidden in a drawer for two weeks as I didn't smoke. One very cold day with no where to go and nothing to do, I took the pack out and lit one stick. My did it have a lovely scent. The heat it created inside me was also soothing. It took me about a week and half to finish the pack of 21 cigs. I couldn't afford to buy the same brand often but i had become addicted to smoking. I struggled with anxiety back then and smoking calmed my nerves. Within 1 year I was smoking 2 packs a day.

Smoking is frowned upon in Ghana, so upon my return there were few places I could smoke. One day while out and about I got really anxious about something and I needed a cig badly. I had to go some distance to get one, and even got a harder time finding a place to hide and smoke. I felt like I was committing the most heinous of crimes cause I had to take off my shirt to ensure the smell didn't stick on me. I didn't even enjoy the smoke because the quality wasn't that good, I smoked in a hurry and kept looking over my shoulder. I simply couldn't live like that anymore. So I quit after that day. The next time I tried to smoke again was 2 months later. I couldn't even finish a stick as it made me feel sick. I have disliked the smell of cigarettes ever since. And that was 7 years ago.

Related to this, a lot of the reason smokers around me smoke is to just go outside. It’s an excuse to hang out on the porch. You might think that such a societal excuse isn’t needed, but it’s a powerful force.

I've never smoked, but in my cubicle days I often tag along with a colleague who did smoke. They'd have a puff, I'd get coffee, and we'd hang out and chat for five or ten minutes outside.

I always did the same thing. It'd be nicer if we could build a social convention of drink breaks instead of smoke breaks, which could sort of bootstrap off of smoke breaks in the way you described.

At first a few people in any given circle would be drinking instead of smoking, and then over time, as more people opt for coffee/tea/water over cigarettes, it gradually becomes normalized to take breaks without having anyone smoke.

That pretty much did happen in our case, there was only one smoker in our group and we'd have coffee breaks even if he wasn't around that day.

This is why I love working from home. I'll go outside whenever I want and no one will know or try to stop me. As long as stuff keeps getting done, no one cares. Sometimes I just need 10 mins to prune some bonsai trees to feel refreshed enough to continue for the day.

I worked at a few places that allowed smokers extra breaks because of their "need". When others asked for the same breaks, they were denied them.

It didn't really go over well, but nobody cared enough to really fight it publicly. I suspect the morale problem it caused cost a lot more than those short breaks would have.

the random networking is one thing i miss about not smoking anymore. you get to socialize with tons of people/coworkers you wouldnt normally talk to, you all start out with a shared interest and everyones in a good mood.

I quit smoking in 2014. Before that, when traveling, I had a habit of smoking local brands. So when I traveled to Beijing, I picked a brand named Baysan because I saw locals smoking it. It had a beautiful package, it was high quality. When traveled back home, I had a commute in Stuttgart. So I got to a smoking area, took a cigarette from that Baysan box and it was like smoking burning wood. I coughed a lot and threw away the box. I think those cigarettes were bearable because of the pollution level in Beijing. Most days you can't see the horizon.

Fun fact: Stuttgart is considered to be one of the worst cities in Germany with regards to air pollution, because of the geography ("Stuttgarter Kessel"). But the difference between any other German city and Stuttgart is obviously negligible when compared to Peking.

"Peking"? What?

Peking == Beijing. It’s the more phonetic translation of the mandarin name for the city.

No, Peking is not more phonetic than Beijing, and it isn't even Wade-Giles. Beijing is the currently accepted western name. You could make a linguistic argument for Wade-Giles, but not for the postal romanization.

In English you mean.

In Portuguese the name is still customarily "Pequim". To illustrate, go to the Beijing page in English Wikipedia and change it to Portuguese. Check what's the title of the page.

That's also the canonical name used in French, Finnish, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, and many more. Last time I checked they're all western languages.

Names are chosen by the users. It's not because the English-speaking word was quicker to adopt the new name that it suddenly became "universal". Universal in English? Sure.

I'm sure that eventually most languages will switch to their local spelling of "Beijing", but that is many decades away. You can't change a word that has been used for centuries by decree. Languages don't work that way. Or maybe for English it does, not so much for many others.

> Beijing is the currently accepted western name.

In the English language, probably. I'm not a native speaker of English and momentarily forgot that "Peking" is unusual (although – in my defense – the English Wikipedia page still has it). But in my native language (German) everything other than "Peking" would be highly unusual.

Within 1 year I was smoking 2 packs a day.

If you have a child who you punish for smoking they'll accuse you of being a hypocrite using this fact, especially when they're fighting for the right to party. :)

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