I may have to disappoint you. This is not about wild monkey sex, but rather, a bird of the cormorant family (Phalacrocorax carunculatus), native to New Zealand. Also commonly known as the rough-faced shag, there are only a few hundred left thanks to over-zealous egg collectors and irresponsible tourists, so be careful with them.

Then there is the pipe tobacco. Shag is a kind of tobacco, often preferred by pipe smokers. It is, as the name suggests, not as finely cut as, say cigarette tobaccos are. Drum tobacco proudly announces itself as being halfzwaar shag, "medium cut" (being Dutch for "half-heavy" thanks, SharQ!)

For those still puzzled by the sexual reference, I'd better inform you that "shagging" is one of the more vulgar British English terms for Mother Nature's Horizontal Dance. Which can, of course, be carried out on a shag pile carpet, but that's yet another tale.

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