Lent Sacrifice

An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

The bartender approaches and tells him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw, it. It would taste better if ya jus bought one at a time lad."

The Irishman replies, "Well, ya see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the utter in Australia, and I'm here in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised each utter that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I drinks one for each o' me brothers and one for me self, ya know a tradition."

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there. The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way: He orders three pints and drinks them in turn.

One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the other regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on yar grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on yar great loss." The Irishman looks confused for a moment, then a light dawns in his eye and he laughs.

"Oh, no. Everyone's fine, me brothers are fine" he explains, "It's just that I gave up drinking for Lent, but my brothers didn't."

[Sent in by Tom Derr]