To pick another 'tell me stuff' subject out of the blue, decided I'd take a crack at stupid laws; and I don't mean the traffic violation that you got nailed with last week, and has you grouchy and ready to rant about. I mean genuinely archaic, outdated, forgotten or restrictive laws that generate frustration, hilarity, even outright outrage. They might just be remnants of a forgotten age, or could have a very current, and very detrimental effect on society. In general, these laws seem really silly and petty on the surface, but often can have a more disturbing meaning when you dig a little deeper.
Per the usual, I'll give up my own example; I lived for most of my life in the province of Quebec. As other Canadian readers probably known, Quebec is largely a French-dominant province, compared to the rest of the country's relatively English focus. Part of what keeps this Francophone status quo in place are a series of Language Laws that are intended to help maintain a French focus. It can be small things, such as the fact that all signs in Quebec either have to be French alone or, if they are bilingual, the French part has to be bigger and more prominent. Also, to the best of my knowledge, many specialist positions, such as Dentist, Doctor, etc, could only be performed and practiced in the province of Quebec, if said dentist or doctor spoke an adequate amount of French, to be judged by some sorta test thing. To make this clear, it didn't even matter if his clientele was entirely composed of bilinguals, or Anglophones, or just Francophones who didn't give a shit what language he spoke. If this doctor or dentist could not pass the French test, he could not practise in Quebec, at all.
With discussion amongst Quebec's political circles to further tightening these laws, I'm actually pretty glad I moved when I did. x.X
The law I have in mind, however, has nothing to do with Quebec's language dominance, but rather its financial dominance; see, in Quebec, until the law was overturned a few years ago, (believe it was 2008,) YELLOW margarine was illegal when it came to being sold in Quebec stores. For those of you who only ever see yellow margarine, the only permitted color margarine could be white. Why? Because, white margarine was produced, from start to finish, by Quebec sources; there was no outside help, and it was intended to keep Quebec's economy going. Which might sound fair enough, except I'm willing to bet Quebec had no problem exporting their stuff to the OTHER provinces, which leaves them a little hypocritical. One incident occured in 2005, when officials actually went to several Wal Marts in Quebec City and 'confiscated' a number of tubs of Bercel yellow margarine, with a 'street value' of two hundred-and-some-such dollars.
Yup. Street value was the word the article USED. Like it was crack.
So! Any stupid laws you folks can think of, past or present?
Quebec's Margarine Tyrany: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRDqbWsFlI
"It Was Like The Prohibition. Only We Could Still Get Sh**faced. Thank ****."
Per the usual, I'll give up my own example; I lived for most of my life in the province of Quebec. As other Canadian readers probably known, Quebec is largely a French-dominant province, compared to the rest of the country's relatively English focus. Part of what keeps this Francophone status quo in place are a series of Language Laws that are intended to help maintain a French focus. It can be small things, such as the fact that all signs in Quebec either have to be French alone or, if they are bilingual, the French part has to be bigger and more prominent. Also, to the best of my knowledge, many specialist positions, such as Dentist, Doctor, etc, could only be performed and practiced in the province of Quebec, if said dentist or doctor spoke an adequate amount of French, to be judged by some sorta test thing. To make this clear, it didn't even matter if his clientele was entirely composed of bilinguals, or Anglophones, or just Francophones who didn't give a shit what language he spoke. If this doctor or dentist could not pass the French test, he could not practise in Quebec, at all.
With discussion amongst Quebec's political circles to further tightening these laws, I'm actually pretty glad I moved when I did. x.X
The law I have in mind, however, has nothing to do with Quebec's language dominance, but rather its financial dominance; see, in Quebec, until the law was overturned a few years ago, (believe it was 2008,) YELLOW margarine was illegal when it came to being sold in Quebec stores. For those of you who only ever see yellow margarine, the only permitted color margarine could be white. Why? Because, white margarine was produced, from start to finish, by Quebec sources; there was no outside help, and it was intended to keep Quebec's economy going. Which might sound fair enough, except I'm willing to bet Quebec had no problem exporting their stuff to the OTHER provinces, which leaves them a little hypocritical. One incident occured in 2005, when officials actually went to several Wal Marts in Quebec City and 'confiscated' a number of tubs of Bercel yellow margarine, with a 'street value' of two hundred-and-some-such dollars.
Yup. Street value was the word the article USED. Like it was crack.
So! Any stupid laws you folks can think of, past or present?
Quebec's Margarine Tyrany: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRDqbWsFlI
"It Was Like The Prohibition. Only We Could Still Get Sh**faced. Thank ****."
