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How did bowling come to have such associations? Well, as with many aspects of culture, the meanings attached to bowling are traditional and have been passed down through the generations in the process of cultural reproduction. While bowling as a sport can boast of ancient variations in Egypt and Polynesia (Arlott 90), the game made its way into the U.S. mainstream by way of taverns in New York City. The original "bowling alleys" of the early 19th century were just that -- alleys, located next to taverns. By 1847, the new Gothic Hall Bowling Saloon already felt the need to overcome its associations with drinking and gambling; it advertised itself as "'the largest and most magnificent establishment of the kind..., visited only by the most respectable company'" (Hickock 76).
Even though bowling eventually moved out of saloons and into its own venues, its place in the cultural systems of meaning has maintained some marked characteristics of this early period in the sport's history.
Link to bowling-related Web page:
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