Guess Why It Was Banned
The votes are in, the answers are tallied, and one entry rose above the rest.
A few weeks back we asked you to play history detective. Calculators, pinball, answering machines, bicycles, and the early automobile — five everyday things that were once treated like menaces to society. We wanted to know if you could guess why each one ended up on the wrong side of the law (or the schoolyard).
Hundreds of you weighed in. We got correct guesses, wild guesses, and a final tiebreaker question that turned into the most fun part of the whole exercise: "What is something you think should be banned, and why?"
The answers ranged from heartfelt to hilarious to oddly specific. But one entry stood out for being practical, immediate, and impossible to argue with — and it's the one that walked away with the prize.
“Squatted trucks. They're dangerous — it impairs the forward vision of the driver, and in the event of a collision it can cause severe injury to the other driver.”
Short, specific, and grounded in a real safety problem — the kind of answer you can imagine actually getting written into a state vehicle code. (Several states already have, in fact.) Congratulations, Jay — your prize is on the way.
The runners-up we couldn't stop thinking about
A handful of answers that made us laugh, nod, or quietly forward to a coworker. Names withheld — but if you recognize your own words, take a bow.
"The imperial or metric system in the USA. The amount of damage at our facility alone from using a metric screw in a standard tapped hole has been incredible. If we could just pick one system and ban the other, it would save time and money everywhere and let manufacturers produce material in one system."
"Five-day work week. We should work 2 days and fish 5. It would be great for morale and our mental health. LOL."
"Hidden junk fees should be banned. They make it impossible to compare prices honestly. A business advertises something as $49, then adds service fees, processing fees, convenience fees, resort fees, or checkout fees at the end. By then, the customer has already spent time choosing the product, so the fee feels like a trap."
"The use of so many different types of hydraulic fittings. Let's narrow it down to one or two and ban the rest."
"Flat head screws are terrible. They only still exist because they're cheap, and they should be banished from the face of the earth."
"I want RS-232 serial communications banned and erased from existence. Just because I have always had an irrational hatred of it."
"Brussels sprouts. The smell of cooking them is just hard to handle. Also, maybe energy drinks — they just can't be good for people. Maybe only energy drinks that taste like brussels sprouts should be allowed. That would self-regulate their consumption."
"Meetings that could've been emails should be banned — because nothing says 'wasting time efficiently' like ten people pretending to contribute while one person reads a document out loud."
"Ignorance. In today's society information is easily available, but we've forgotten how to do research, use information, and think critically. Too many are now informed by influencers and have turned their brain off."
"Private jet use. The trucking industry has to deal with expensive and troublesome diesel aftertreatment systems to help with global warming — only to have their efforts wiped out by one celebrity going on a jaunt with one or two people on the plane."
Thanks to everyone who played.
Stay tuned — the next round of Guess Why It Was Banned is already in the works, and we'll be looking for more strong opinions, sharper takes, and the occasional case for banning brussels sprouts.