You’ve probably seen this weird claim. It’s one that says it’s illegal to walk around with an ice-cream cone in your back pocket in Georgia, Alabama & Kentucky. However, looking through the real legal texts shows a completely different story. What’s really going on with this strange law? Let’s find out.
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Georgia’s code regulates ice cream
The food laws in Georgia talk a lot about ice cream, just not in the way the viral story suggests. It talks about labeling requirements, and gives details about temperature & milkfat, even pasteurization, but one thing’s missing. There’s nothing about someone tucking a cone into their jeans.
Alabama’s ice-cream rules set standards
It’s a similar situation over in Alabama, as their regulations focus on how ice cream is made & sold. Things like factory inspections and truck licenses are important because they’re practical issues. Yet there isn’t a single line banning people from wandering around with a cone in their back pocket.
Kentucky’s statutes define ice cream
Kentucky’s laws are not much different. They define what counts as ice cream & talk about retail food safety, while also talking about sanitation rules. What they don’t do is tell anyone where they can put their dessert. There’s nothing about pockets or cones, and certainly nothing about a mix of the two. Suddenly, this rule doesn’t seem so believable anymore.
Horse-theft origins
So where did this myth come from? It’s the horse angle that usually keeps this myth alive, which states that thieves used ice cream as bait. Apparently, since the horses followed them willingly, they couldn’t be charged with theft, as they technically didn’t “steal” the animals. But the states’ theft laws already cover livestock in full detail. Taking a horse, bait or not, is illegal, and ice cream doesn’t create a loophole to allow people to do this, so it’s not true.
The earliest mentions of the law
Interestingly, this fake law first emerged in old trivia columns & jokey newspaper fillers decades ago. It became part of strange factbooks from the 1940s onward, alongside things like weird laws about animals. But the state codes from that era are completely silent on the issue. That’s rather damning evidence that it’s not real.
Kentucky’s public ice cream posture law
One version of the story claims that standing on one foot while eating ice cream in public was banned. It’s a claim you’ll see in trivia books & articles. However, the actual Kentucky statutes don’t contain anything like that, and there’s no archival trace of such a rule existing or ever being suggested. It’d be funny if this story were real, but sadly, it seems to be a complete fabrication.
The law rumor likely confused real livestock rules
The alleged law comes from a time when horses & mules wandered around more freely. To avoid theft, Georgia & Alabama had strict rules about luring animals off property, although people used sweets to tempt them. There were specific enticement laws to deal with that. It’s very possible that people misunderstood this law, leading to the ice cream law rumor.
The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:
