Common and mundane things that used to be banned - So, what are the meaningless and inoffensive things that used to be banned but are widespread today?

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Chess -

History has seen chess banned in numerous countries, beginning in Persia in 644 CE over concerns it could encourage gambling. Over time, the playing of this ancient board game has been forbidden in Egypt, France, Afghanistan, and Japan. Chess is currently banned in Saudi Arabia, likely on dubious religious grounds, but also by the fact that the country's leaders see the game simply as a time-waster.

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Christmas -

In the mid-17th century in England, Christmas was regarded by the Puritans as a forbidden celebration. Enforcing their strict interpretation of Christianity, they promptly banned it. In line with their fellow moralists, Puritans in New England heard of the ban and issued a similar one.

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Popcorn -

For many, munching through a bucket of popcorn is an essential part of the cinemagoer experience. But this buttery, salty snack was banned in movie theaters during the silent film era after US senators deemed it foodstuff for the lower classes. This ludicrous mindset changed during the Great Depression, when the first sound films appeared and cinema owners realized the profits to be made by selling popcorn to a mass audience.

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Bowls -

It's hard to imagine the genteel sport of bowls being outlawed, but it fell victim to the previously mentioned foibles of Edward III, and other British kings of old. The measly monarchs believed the game distracted people from practicing archery, a much-needed skill in the turbulent and often violent Middle Ages.

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Football (soccer) -

Football originated in Britain. But in the early 14th century, King Edward II banned it on the grounds that it caused too much noise and could lead to social division (he had a point). Edward III went even further, banning all sport except archery. Subsequent British monarchs also had a problem with the beautiful game. Kings Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V all placed football offside during their reigns.

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Woman carrying credit cards -

The first bank-issued credit cards appeared in the United States in 1958. But for a woman, this handy new method of payment was largely out of reach. While not technically banned from using plastic, a woman attempting to acquire a credit card faced several hurdles. Married women, for example, were required to have their husbands sign their card application forms. Widows and single women were expected to find a man to cosign. Discrimination like this continued until 1974, when Congress passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibited creditors from discriminating against credit applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, and age.

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Sausages -

During the First World War, a ban was placed on sausages by Germany and its allies because the gas-impermeable bags that held the hydrogen gas to keep Zeppelin airships aloft were made from cow guts—the same intestines used to make sausages. Each Zeppelin required 250,000 cows to craft the requisite number of bags, according to Farm Progress.

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Coffee shops -

In 1675, King Charles II passed a law banning coffee shops. The English monarch's reasoning was that coffee could provoke instigation or the plotting of violence against the throne. In addition, the cozy and intimate nature of the coffee shop interior was seen as a perfect breeding ground for sedition and revolution. Curiously, the King withdrew the ban two days before it was to be put into effect.

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The bikini -

The demand for restrictions on swimwear continued into the 20th century with the widespread ban of the bikini soon after it was introduced in 1946. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Australia, and some parts of the US prohibited its use. And the bikini backlash was further heightened after the garment was banned at beauty pageants worldwide.

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Potatoes -

The humble potato, a staple in many countries around the world, was banned in France in 1748 after being labeled fit only for livestock feed. Furthermore, French citizens were under the impression potatoes caused leprosy in humans. Fortunately the Gallic pharmacist and agronomist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier convinced his countrymen otherwise after being held prisoner by the Prussians, who fed him potatoes that didn't kill him.

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Ballet -

In 2001, the then-president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, banned opera and ballet in his country, as he didn't consider them to be art forms in line with the national spirit. Four years later, Niyazov banned recorded music on television, in public performances, and at weddings in an attempt to reverse the habit of Turkmenistan's singing stars miming their biggest hits on TV shows. His successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, lifted the restrictions on many of the things his predecessor had banned.

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Swimwear -

In the early 1900s, women's swimsuits were considered so indecent that they were banned from public beaches and pools. Which is odd, considering a swimsuit in those days typically referred to a one-piece with a knee-length skirt and stockings. Men, meanwhile, were obliged to hit the beach wearing a wool bodysuit.

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Chintz -

In the late 17th century, the popularity in Europe of chintz, a textile that originated in India thousands of years ago, became such that the continent's domestic cotton and fabric markets began to suffer. France slapped an import ban on the material, followed by Britain. Other countries placed similar restrictions on the valuable commodity.

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Female belly button -

In 1951, the prudes at the National Association of Broadcasters in America decreed that the female navel was far too risqué to be seen on television. This rule against female belly buttons on the small screen was only lifted in 1983.

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The harp -

The national musical instrument of Ireland is the harp. In the 1500s, the discord between England and the Emerald Isle was fraught, so much so that the English Crown decided that Irish harp players were a danger because of the potential power and influence they wielded. In fact, those caught playing the instrument were hanged and their instruments destroyed.

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Interracial marriage -

Interracial marriage and sex, or miscegenation, had long been outlawed in the Unites States before the landmark June 12, 1967, US Supreme Court ruling in Virginia that struck down state laws banning marriage between individuals of different races. Other countries were slower off the mark. South Africa, for example, only repealed the laws prohibiting marriage and sexual intercourse between white people and people of other races in 1985.

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Women wearing pants -

A woman caught wearing pants, or men's trousers, in early 19th-century Paris, risked a run-in with the law unless she sought permission to do so beforehand (even so, permission was only granted to female equestrians and those women wishing to ride a bicycle). Believe it or not, this archaic decree was still in place in 1969 when, ironically, female police officers had started wearing pants as part of their uniforms. The law was finally repealed on January 31, 2013.

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Trench coats -

Trench coats were originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and their association with combat has stuck. Many school administrators in the United States banned the garment in the wake of the 1999 Columbine shootings, where the two perpetrators of this heinous crime were seen at one point wearing long, black, duster-style trench coats. The person pictured here is a model.

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Fortune tellers -

Fortune telling used to be illegal in many states throughout America, and still is in Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin!

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Pinball -

There was a time when America outlawed pinball machines, specifically in the early 1940s until 1976 in New York City on the basis that playing pinball was tantamount to gambling, in other words robbing school children of their hard-earned nickels and dimes.

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Golf on Sunday -

An absurd law banning the playing of golf on Sundays in New York state was finally lifted in 1952. Previously, participating in the sport on that day was deemed as "profaning the Sabbath." Historically, golf on Sundays had also fallen foul of King James II in Scotland in the mid-15th century, when he outlawed the game in favor of archery practice.

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Being a communist -

In the United States during the so-called Red Scare of the 1950s, it was illegal to align with the Communist Party. It was only during the late 1960s when the Cold War began to thaw that the Supreme Court worked to try to undo this controversial legislation.

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Carp farming -

During the Tang dynasty from 618 to 907 CE, Chinese emperor Taizong of Tang banned the farming and consumption of the common carp, a staple of Chinese cuisine. The reason was straight out of vanity central. The name for carp sounded too similar to the emperor's family name in Chinese!

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Dancing -

The Cabaret Law enacted in New York City in 1926 banning dancing in an establishment that didn't possess a cabaret license was only lifted in 2017. Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, and Ray Charles were among the celebrities who voiced protest against the decree.

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Adultery -

Adultery remains illegal in many countries around the world. In America, consensual sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse was illegal in most states until the mid-1950s. Today, extramarital sex is still considered a crime in 16 states and Puerto Rico.

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Voting as a woman -

Women's suffrage has a long and contentious history. In the United States when the 19th Amendment became law on August 26, 1920, 26 million adult female Americans were nominally eligible to vote. In 1928, women in England, Wales, and Scotland received the vote on the same terms as men.

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The Trapper Keeper -

From the 1970s to the 1990s, one of the coolest, must-have high school accessories in the United States was a Trapper Keeper, a popular brand of loose-leaf binder. By the 2000s, however, Trapper Keepers were being banned everywhere, ostensibly because of the noise made by the Velcro snap as kids opened and closed them in the classroom day in, and day out. The item is still around today, designed for various themes.

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Saying "mate!" -

"G'day, mate!" is a popular way of greeting one another in Australia. In 2005, however, the Aussie government attempted to suppress this cherished salutation by banning security guards at Parliament House in Canberra from calling people mate. The faux pas prompted a swift backlash, with Australians across the country expressing their love for their slang word for friend. The decree was quietly dropped.

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Alcohol -

One of history's most notorious bans was that of alcohol in America in the 1920s and early '30s. Known as the Prohibition era, the entire country went dry—or was supposed to. Despite the new legislation, Prohibition was difficult to enforce. In fact, the ban encouraged the illegal production and sale of liquor, the proliferation of speakeasies, and a rise in gang violence and organized crime. In 1933, Prohibition ended.

Sources: (Tasting Table) (Bankrate) (BBC) (Women's Wear Daily) (Farm Progress) (History) (ISI Dublin) (Institute for Justice and Reconciliation) (Justia US Supreme Court Center) (FindLaw) (The New York Times) (Newsweek) 

See also: Prohibition, America's era of abstinence

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