I got an e-mail from the Fun Stuff Newsletter with this little bit of trivia:
It is illegal to sell an ET doll in France because
they have a law forbidding the sale of dolls that do
not have human faces.
This is too weird to believe. Is this true? If so, what is the motivation? This would make all the Fundamentalist Christian activism against Harry Potter almost sane!
How can France claim to be a free society with this silly law.
Hardly a comparison. You are linking Jerry Falwell’s (not a lawmaker) commentary on the SCOTUS sodomy decision. Only a few states still had Sodomy laws in the first place. Plus, it has not been that long in history when sodomy was illegal in all of Europe. The trend has been toward greater personal freedom. I do agree that sodomy laws are silly, but something even more absurd could compare better. A better example would be a very silly, as in less serious, law in the U.S. that is just weirdly absurd.
I have no major issues with France. I am sure there are silly U.S. laws that make no sense to anyone but a few. I am curious about the French law about not allowing non-human.
I am curious about the French law about not allowing non-human…faces on dolls.
I’m only seeing this claim on “fun facts” sites. Not hugely convincing, as they have a habit of being debunked (and never updated when they are) but I’ll keep looking. If you have another cite, it’d help. Right now, it seems pretty unlikely – at what point is an item a “doll” and not a “toy”? It’s certainly not illegal to sell teddy bears or model horses, if a quick google for French toys is any indication.
You may be amused by www.dumblaws.com, which occasionally bothers to back up its listings with references to serious pages. You know in Houston, it’s illegal to purchase beer after midnight on a Sunday, but it’s perfectly okay to buy it on a Monday? (There are a few ways you could interpret that, but I still don’t know what they have against Lindberger cheese.) And San Antonio has an anti-flirting law. By comparison, I only see a few listings for France (though I’ll grant you, it probably just receives fewer submissions).
Whether you meant it to sound that way, your thread title and the ending comment came off as rather hostile. Not a great way to encourage people to help.
Can’t verify it, can’t debunk it. Some reasonable laws just have weird results.
That’s Limburger, sorry. You can tell how much I know about it – we don’ get nunnathat gor-may stuff down heres.
Huh?
So, what, teddy bears aren’t allowed there?
How about “Planet Of The Apes” action figures? After all, the book was originally written by a Frenchman…
You may have a point. It may be pure bunk. Or, it may be a mis-interpretation of a strange law that simply is not enforced. I may try to do a search connecting “ET Dolls” and “France.”
Being from Houston, I am curious about the drinking law you cited. “After midnight on a Sunday,…okay to buy it in a Monday?” After midnight on a Sunday IS Monday.
Full service bars are allowed to serve until 2 a.m. every night. Bars that sell only beer and wine (these often allow you to bring your own hard liquor and sell you ‘set-ups’) must close at midnight, Except on Saturday, which they can stay open until 1 a.m. Same for stores that sell beer and wine. All these places can begin selling at 7a.m… Except on Sunday, when it is at noon. At a restaraunt, or sporting event (which motivated this exception), you can buy beer or wine if you also buy some food. Liquor stores must close at 9 a.m… They are closed on Sunday. All state law.
Although this may be some strange local ordinance that has been ignored for years. Back in the 1980’s, when certain nightclubs became a haven for teenagers on Ectasy, they blew the dust off an old ordinance from the 60’s that stated drinking establishments must close when the drinking stops. Shortly later, often with just a little drywall, seperate “after hours” clubs opened next door to many discos.
minor correction
At a restaraunt, or sporting event (which motivated this exception), you can buy beer or wine if you also buy some food…at 10 a.m.
stoyel already told you about teddy bears three posts before yours. Here’s a French site selling Planet of the Apes figures. Search for “La Planète des singes” for more of the same.
The trouble with searching on that is that the French word for doll isn’t “doll”, so you’ll just find a lot more bullshit sites recycling the same “fact”. If you want to search for yourself, figurines is the word for action figures and poupée means doll.
This site shows Star Wars action figures that were on sale in France in 1978 (be patient, the server seems a bit fragile). Yoda’s face doesn’t look human to me, nor does Chewbacca’s or the Jawa or the Sand People. I didn’t search for ET because “et” means and in French, so that could be confusing.
Do you believe everything you read in e-mails Road Rash? You must be a Nigerian bank account scammer’s wet dream.
I have a lot, A LOT of money coming to me in a lost account. All I have to do is come up with the $5000 in research money, and I will be laughing at you in the poor house.
LAUGHING, I TELL YOU!!
Do you agree that your thread title and OP were pointlessly hostile? It’s no wonder relations between France and the USA are so poor if people go out of their way to be so disparaging on the back of such flimsy evidence.
As a neutral bystander I find it pretty depressing.
Don’t you mean 9 **p.**m.?
‘Free society’? Personally, I wouldn’t feel my freedom was being particularly imposed upon by the fact that I couldn’t buy a doll with a non-human face on it.
Now, maybe if it was illegal for me to engage in a regular form of sex for gay men, and legal for others to watch and arrest me, as seems to be the case in Texas…
For my own state, every single non-referenced claim they make is utterly false and not on the books. It’s an amusing site, but it’s a site run by liars and frauds.
Somebody’d better tell the Disney store on the Champs Elysées quick, before they get busted!
Well, since you seek this in the context of ridiculing France, I think I’ll just send this on down to the Pit.
Well, well… Another reason to ridicule Texas.
Now we’re in the pit. I suppose you’d think I would bash France more. I meant for the second sentence of my title to end with a question mark, if that is any consolation.
But go ahead and flame me. I deserve it. Flame France if you feel (hey, a toungue twister!). Flame silly sodomy laws. Flame nazi-moderators. I’ll bring some hot dogs and place them close to my pc.
Just try to make the flames colorful.