Don't be shy to buy a round, lest your mates don't forget it, warns Don Kavanagh.
When I was growing up many years ago, there were three terrible things you could accuse someone of.
A lack of patriotism was the first thing, meaning you would cast aspersions on someone's dedication to the glorious Irish republic in all its cheap and shoddy glory. You could also accuse someone of being a scab, and either of those two could easily cause a fight.
The third terrible reputation to acquire was that of someone who wouldn't stand their round in the pub, or someone who didn't "trouble the mahogany", as the saying went.
This was a truly awful thing to be accused of. It was fair enough to go to the pub and simply refuse to take part in a round, but once you did accept a drink off someone else, it was incumbent upon you to return the favour. Even today there are people in my hometown whose children and grandchildren are tarred with the same brush.