A man walks into a bar and orders three pints of Guinness. He 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 the man, "You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste better if you bought one at a time."In a thick Irish accent, the man replies, "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Boston, the other is in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I'm drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself." 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 mugs and drinks them in turn. One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs. All the 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 your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss."

The Irishman looks puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs. "Oh, no, no, nothing like that -- everybody's just fine," he explains, "It's just that I gave up drinking for Lent."