Lifelong smoker???

[tcfrogs]

Just heard on the news reports of his death that Johnny Carson was a lifelong smoker.

Did he come out of the womb smoking? :shrug:

Please don't flame me for being insensitive - I was a big fan and his passing is very sad. I just thought that line was odd.

[RPM]

1. don't be a dumbass

babies can't smoke firsthand; he must have been secondhand smoking in utero

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. I always hate that phrase

You can't be a lifelong anything (except alive until you're dead). Even race; look at Michael Jackson!

[Left Is Write]

3. I assume they mean he smoked his entire adult life.

When I say I'm a "lifelong Democrat" I don't mean that I made a conscious decision as a child to be a Democrat. I mean I've been a "practicing" Democrat my entire adult life.

[GalleryGod]

7. Always had an ashtray under the desk

In the old days-like 1962-he smoked on the air

[Left Is Write]

9. A lot of people did back then.

Garry Moore used to smoke at his desk also. Even in the 70s you'd see Richard Dawson smoking on The Match Game.

[ChoralScholar]

43. He smoked on the air later than that.

When I was a kid in the late 70's/early 80's, he was still smoking on the air.

[napi21]

4. He was almost 80 years old! Are ya going to call that dying early?

I know all the non-smokers are going to jump on this with both feet, but just how old does someone have to be before you will admit that maybe something else played a part in their death.

I personally don't want to even live that long if I can't continue to do the things that make it worth living.

[Left Is Write]

5. He reportedly died of emphysema.

I think it's safe to blame that on the smoking.

[napi21]

10. I don't doubt that, but at 80, it would have been something else.

Smoking does cause health problems, so do a lot of other things.

Sorry, but I've worked with quite a few people who were fastidious with what they ate, never smoked, watched their weight, didn't drink, make sure they got sufficient sleep, etc. Guess what? They all died. Some from cancer in one the main organs. One of them was the founder of a major health food business, and he died at 67, and had access to the best health care money could buy.

You do what you think you should do for you, and let me alone!

[Left Is Write]

13. Why on earth are you snapping at me?

Let you alone? Who's telling you what to do?

The point is, you said, on the topic of Johnny Carson: "just how old does someone have to be before you will admit that maybe something else played a part in their death."

We were talking about Johnny Carson. In his case, the emphysema CAN be blamed on his smoking. It wasn't likely to be "something else" that played a part. My paternal grandfather had emphysema too - caused by his smoking.

My grandmother lived to age 82. She died of lung cancer, caused by her smoking. Again, it wasn't something else. It was lung cancer. 14 months of a hellish torture for her that left her a shell of her former self and begging to die.

[Bluebear]

18. .

[Ernesto]

29. I'm with you, LiW

The only thing smoking brought my mom & uncle was painful death while they were blaming their lung failures on "smog". Denial is very big with smokers, but not with insurance companies & medical science.

[NightTrain]

39. My Uncle Louie died of lung cancer in December 1994 after he had...

...smoked for about 45 years. When we got the news, I said to my father, "It was those goddamned cigarettes."

"You don't know that," dad replied. "Louie could've gotten lung cancer from all the dirt and dust he inhaled working construction all those years."

My father was also a "lifelong smoker." He died just over three years after Louie did. Cause of death? Lung cancer!

[Catchawave]

31. Smoking can contribute, but there are other factors....

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/16255-2.asp

[Left Is Write]

32. Yes, I know.

I still believe it's reasonable to assume that Carson's smoking was the most significant factor in his emphysema. You may have noticed that the poster to whom I was responding seemed to think it was outrageous and/or unfair to link Carson's cause of death to his smoking.

And disclaimer for anyone else reading this post: This is not to be construed in any way as whining about Carson being a smoker, blaming him for his own death, a condemnation of smokers, or any other such slight that may be perceived. It is a dispassionate statement of the fact that emphysema and smoking are related.

[LynneSin]

8. I don't know, I'll ask my dad about that one...

wait, he died at age 41 from lung cancer and was a lifelong smoker.

[NightTrain]

40. Lung cancer killed your dad at 41? Damn!

And I thought I got screwed when it took my father away from me when he was only 62.

[arwalden]

12. I'll Betcha He Might Have Preferred To Be Healthy These Past 10 Years...

... instead of tied to an oxygen tube. And I'll even bet that he would have enjoyed another 10 or 15 years of life.

His lungs had turned to leather. He died from emphysema caused by smoking cigarettes.

>> I personally don't want to even live that long if I can't continue to do the things that make it worth living. <<

If smoking is one of the things that makes life worth living, then you should be able to die happy... albeit early and in poor health... at least you'll be happy. :eyes:

[mcscajun]

33. I think 79, smoker or not, is a damned good long run!

And I don't want to live that long, either.

Not the way things are in This country.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

42. Seriously,

with English being someone's native tongue, is there a sentient adult out there who doesn't know what "lifelong smoker" means?

[miss_kitty]

6. I am a lifelong smoker

My parents smoked throughout mom's pregnancy. They both smoked in the house and in the car. I started delivering nicotine to myself at the age of 11 or 12. By that time, I'd had chronic bronchitis and sinus infections for as long as I remembered. I stopped delivering nicotine to my system im Feb 1998. But I still consider myself a smoker, because the craving never leaves.

[Left Is Write]

11. I am very fortunate that my cravings are very, very rare.

I smoked for 15 years and quit on July 1, 1998. I do not consider myself a smoker. I think once I got the nicotine out of my system, I've wanted a cigarette maybe three times in the last six years.

[miss_kitty]

14. I think you have better genes

I know people who can smoke one a day, one a week, only when they drink-I haven't even had a drag since I stopped-I think I'd start again, and I'd have to detox all over again. That was miserable.

[Left Is Write]

15. I could never do that. I don't dare ever take a drag of a cigarette.

I smoked my last cigarette on June 30, 1998, and I don't intend ever going back. Three of my four grandparents were smokers, and two of my uncles smoked. My parents never did though, so that's good.

[miss_kitty]

16. No one in my family had cancer til my dad's generation

all three of them died of cancer-my aunt, my dad and my uncle. Their mom was a smoker, and all three of them were heavy smokers. They all had emphysema too. Then I had cancer.

[Left Is Write]

19. I'm sorry for your losses.

My maternal grandparents both died of cancer, and my paternal grandfather died of emphysema. My uncles both quit smoking and are still around, fortunately.

I'm really the only one of us five kids who was a smoker. My little sister smoked on occasion when she was younger, but never picked it up as a habit, and she hasn't smoked in over ten years. Her husband was a smoker, but he quit the year after my husband and I did.

[tcfrogs]

17. This wasn't meant to be a debate on smoking/cancer

I just look at language "somewhat" like George Carlin does, and have always thought that was an odd phrase.

[Bluebear]

20. See what you've done???

J/K, I think it's an odd phrase too.

[miss_kitty]

21. Well as a 'lifelong smoker' I don't find it odd at all

:P

[Left Is Write]

22. I don't really find it odd either.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

23. Gee, a 79 year old man died,

and he had a great career, did lots of good things for his home town and state, was a great giver to charity, started a slew of great entertainers on their way because he was a generous professional, and you assholes are whining about his having been a smoker.

I enjoy DU, but threads like this make me think you're a bunch of closet Freepers, intolerant and narrow-minded.

[Bluebear]

24. Whining? I took it as a thread about phraseology

The OP just commented that you don't come out of the womb smoking or anything else, so "lifelong" is an interesting nomenclature. And now everyone is a closet freeper?

[Left Is Write]

25. Who is whining about Johnny Carson having been a smoker?

[miss_kitty]

26. Where's the whining?

I never complained about him smoking. and I don't see anyone else complaining about him smoking. Or saying that he got what he deserved as a smoker.
I see this thread as the OP wondering what kind of of phrase is 'Lifelong Smoker' and some of us explaining what it means to us and how it has affected our lives. Carson has barely been discussed here and only as an aside.

Point out the proof to back your accusation, esquire. And watch out who you accuse of intolerance and narrow-mindedness. Sounds like a personal attack to me.:evilfrown:

[tcfrogs]

28. Wait a minute, please!!!!

I started this thread about the language used, "lifelong smoker". I did not intend for this to be:

- about Johnny Carson's death
- about Johnny Carson as a person
- debate about smoking
- debate about cancer & smoking

Please, lighten up and re-read my original post.

Thanks - tcfrogs

[miss_kitty]

35. sorry we jacked your thread, tcfrogs

But really I do consider myself a lifelong smoker, since nicotine was in me from the beginning of me.

[tcfrogs]

36. It's okay

It just took a tangent that I never intended. Oh well, no big deal.

[Bluebear]

38. What did you mean by THAT crack???

:innocent glazed look:

[arwalden]

30. Oh Brother!

:eyes:

[NightTrain]

41. Boy, you tobacco addicts are a thin-skinned lot, aren't you?

Christ almighty....

[OldLeftieLawyer]

44. Tobacco addicts?

Easy does it, champ. I'm not a smoker, but I am amused by the intolerance and smug righteousness displayed by some people who get all worked up about smokers.

Life's for living, not for condemning, even in a passive-aggressive way.

Christ almighty knew that.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

27. THIS THREAD IS ABOUT SEMANTICS!

No one is whining about anything or expressing shock that a 79-year-old man could die!! tcfrogs was merely expressing curiosity at the use of the phrase "lifelong smoker!"

[hollywood926]

34. It is an odd way to say it...

but people in his generation often started smoking in their early teens - my mother was 12! They didn't have the anti-smoking campaigns we have.

But the phrase "lifelong smoker" does suggest that he was smoking as soon as they cut the umbilical cord...

[Nikia]

37. My grandfather was a life long smoker

He started smoking when he was 9 years old. He never had any intention of qutting. He insisted that he liked to smoke and that it was his right. Since none of his ancestors or other relatives ever had cancer, he was not concerned about it. He died this past summer, at the age of 71, of an aortic aneurysm while he was in the hospital after having heart attacks. Smoking is tough on heart and blood vessels, which some people seem to forget.