Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA
Path: utzoo!linus!gatech!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin
From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: "Shopping days"; really "Blue Laws"
Message-ID: <506@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 10-Dec-85 13:38:06 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.506
Posted: Tue Dec 10 13:38:06 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Dec-85 22:00:44 EST
References: <291@brl-tgr.ARPA> <2389@flame.warwick.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: USAMC ALMSA, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 21
Keywords: blue law, Giant Frogs of Sumatra

In article <2389@flame.warwick.UUCP> kay@flame.UUCP (Kay Dekker) writes:
>What is a "Blue Law"?  I can't find any references to these things on a
>cursory investigation; could some kind soul enlighten me?  Are they named
>for a legislator?  the colour of the paper?  blue as in "blue joke"?

I wondered, when I posted the original, if the use of the phrase "Blue
Law" would cause a subsidiary discussion to arise. Well, so it did!

Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College
Edition, The World Publishing Co., 1972, says:
"blue law  1. any of the strict puritanical laws prevalent in colonial New
England  2. a law prohibiting dancing, shows, sports, business, etc.,
on Sunday"

I believe that the "blue" in this phrase comes from the same source as
in "blue-nose" (a Puritan or prig), but it seems different from the
usage in "bluestocking" (a pedantic woman) [which also seems later].

Those with better references can trace the etymology in more detail.

Regards, Will