In 1895, London had a strange rule about husbands beating their wives. The City of London introduced a bylaw targeting wife-beating at night. It prohibited men from beating their wives between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. But there was an important catch. The rule was largely about noise disturbing the neighbors, not a modern ban on domestic violence. Wife-beating was already subject to assault laws, but domestic abuse was often treated as a private family matter. The bylaw gave authorities another way to deal with nighttime violence and the disturbance it caused. So the viral claim that men could legally beat their wives during the day is misleading. Still, the fact that such a bylaw existed in Victorian London is remarkable.

I watched a woman cut an entire mall queue, and when I politely called her out, she pointed at me and said, “You have no idea what I’m carrying right now.” I was standing in line at a crowded mall checkout, probably 15 people deep, when she suddenly walked past everyone and stood near the front. Someone behind me muttered, “Seriously?” I finally said, “Excuse me, the line starts back there.” She turned around. “I know.” That answer somehow made it worse.