The Daily Mail has published an article mentioning 50 strange laws still in effect in these United States. Most of them appear to have simply 'withered on the vine' due to neglect, and no-one's ever bothered to repeal them: but one does wonder how they came to be passed in the first place! Here's a selection from the list.
Connecticut: A pickle cannot actually be a pickle unless it bounces.
Florida: If you tie an elephant to a parking meter, you must pay the same parking fee as you would for a vehicle.
Iowa: One-armed piano players must perform for free.
Louisiana: Biting someone with your natural teeth constitutes simple assault, but biting someone with your false teeth classifies as aggravated assault.
Minnesota: It's illegal to paint a sparrow with the intent of selling it as a parakeet.
New Mexico: Females may not appear unshaven in public.
Pennsylvania: It's illegal to sleep on top of a refrigerator outdoors.
Rhode Island: You may not bite off another person's leg.
Texas: You may not shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.
Wyoming: Unless you have an official permit, you may not take a picture of a rabbit from January to April.
There are many more at the link. Amusing, if off-beat reading. I'm not sure how many of them are accurate (for example, there's a long list of Minnesota 'laws' that aren't and never have been laws there, including the one mentioned above), but they're funny, nevertheless.
Peter
The Florida one actually makes sense, for a level of outraged bureaucrat idiocy - Florida is where a lot of carnies winter. If you have a convenient trained elephant that needs a walk anyway, why not take it into town?
ReplyDeleteBut you don't need an elephant "pooper-scooper" in Florida.
ReplyDeleteNow that makes sense!
In Alaska it's illegal to get a moose drunk.
ReplyDeleteThe city park near my current abode in TX has a sign warning that it is an municipal offense to herd, drove or pasture livestock in the public parks or residential rights-of-way.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1
A small town I pass through on the way home, I often see a horse staked out to feed on grass off the shoulder.
ReplyDelete"Minnesota: It's illegal to paint a sparrow with the intent of selling it as a parakeet."
I see things like this and wonder if the law is actually that specific. Does the law actually just talk about disguising other birds as parakeets?
MechAg94
Gotta love those... sigh...
ReplyDeleteSo, Labrat's pants* are only optional indoors one supposes.
ReplyDeleteOr, tantalizingly not ...
;-)
*See her Friday, 1/6/12 post regarding movie viewing at Casa Nerd for much-needed context.
This one.
ReplyDeleteThe critical context is to be found about mid-way through the third paragraph.