# An argument against bumper stickers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381 "2003-09-18T14:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/41 "2003-09-18T21:20:26Z")
Glad to oblige, **Gundy**. 🙂 One of my favorite license-plate related stories: there was this rich old lady that lived in my hometown, and she had two really nice older Mercedes sedans. Both of them had those license plate frames that read “My other car is a Mercedes.” Apparently she didn’t get the joke. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/42 "2003-09-18T22:19:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\*The thing that bothers me TEN TIMES more than whatever silly political statement or stupid joke they make is when they’re on **CROOKED**. I’m staring at a $55,000 Lexus with “My child is an honor student at Lord Snot Boarding School” and it’s on at a 30 degree angle. BLAAARRRGHH!!! \*\* Oh, yes. That drives me batshit. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/43 "2003-09-18T23:36:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shade \* > \*\* > And if you were struck dead somewhere and your car became abandoned, you’d come and take it off, yes? > > OK, fair enough. But no-one else would, so people will disbelieve your sticker. \*\* Actually, it was more that the alternator used to go out on it. Had to go walkies to get some cold water sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/44 "2003-09-19T00:37:47Z")
Not really on topic, but the other day I saw a sticker (on a utility pole) that read: > [@](#): > > **What if, _at this very moment_, you are living up to your full potential?** Its placement at the corner of a busy intersection, along an arterial trucking route, seemed cruelly suggestive. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/45 "2003-09-19T00:52:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*Actually, it was more that the alternator used to go out on it. Had to go walkies to get some cold water sometimes. \*\* Yeah, but my point was that the sticker wouldn’t do anything, because other people wouldn’t know that… How about leaving a note on the dashboard with time, date, and “Gone to get some water for the alternator, back in x min” on? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/46 "2003-09-19T01:09:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shade \* > \*\*\ How about leaving a note on the dashboard with time, date, and “Gone to get some water for the alternator, back in x min” on? \*\* (Underlining mine) Not quite the gearhead, eh **Shade**? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/47 "2003-09-19T01:18:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Carter of Mars \* > \*\*(Underlining mine) > > Not quite the gearhead, eh **Shade**? 😛 \*\* :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/48 "2003-09-19T01:31:18Z")
I have not gotten around to putting any stickers on my car. I guess it is about tie to get the **Ollie in '88** Bumper sticker and the nice window sticker that says **Miskatonic University Alumni** ---
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/49 "2003-09-19T01:46:14Z")
While I was working at a U.S. Gov’t office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota from 1999-2001, I would see an awful lot of the ‘Save the Farm, Export Reagan’ bumper stickers on old pickup trucks in our parking lot. While the pickups were certainly old enough to have been in farm use during the time the stickers were popular in the eighties, a lot of the stickers themselves seemed, well, pretty new. I always liked to think that in a lot of farm houses across the midwest, there was a stack of these stickers, waiting to be slapped on when the old one was looking a little worn. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/50 "2003-09-19T02:53:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lurkernomore \* > \*\* Ah, they probably got the crabs at Lily’s House of Ill-Repute. > \*\* Hey, hey! My house may not have the best reputation, but there are no crabs here, sir! ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/51 "2003-09-19T03:03:56Z")
I saw this young man at a bank get out of his pickup with his maybe 3 year old daughter. But the back of the pickup was _covered_ with obscene bumper stickers! “Lick them and they will cum!” was the one that I remember. I just kept thinking, what about when this little girl learns to read and asks you what those mean? Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![auntnut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@auntnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntnut)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/52 "2003-09-19T03:10:21Z")
**Honk if you love peace and quiet !** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/53 "2003-09-19T03:13:41Z")
No, you needed to pour water on the damn alternator. No, it made no sense. It was a replacement alternator, too. '86 Topaz. It was fine when cold. But you drive it five miles, turn it off, and it needed about a pint of water poured over it to restart the car. Mechanic said that was pretty much the only way to fix it, and the car only had to last six months more, so… well, it lasted. Admittedly, the sticker preceeded the issue with the car. It just pretty much described my feelings about the heap. ---
**Author:** ![antologia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ccd318/32.png) [@antologia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antologia)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/54 "2003-09-19T04:45:08Z")
i’ve got nothing against britney spears but i think the funniest bumper sticker i’ve seen read: “honk if you like britney spears, then drive your car into the nearest tree” ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/55 "2003-09-19T13:05:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by seal\_cleaner \* > \*\* > > But really, have you EVER seem a bumpersticker that gave you a higher opinion of someone’s intelligence or beliefs? \*\* My personal favorite is “Why Be Normal?” on the front bumper of a car ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/56 "2003-09-19T13:22:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \* > \*\*No, you needed to pour water on the damn alternator. \*\* Thank goodness. I thought that’s what you said, and I never stopped to consider if it made sense. I retract my “:smack:” Anyway, it’s a good sticker 🙂 Further sticker favorites include “Honk if your nose is blocked” and, in red, “If this sign is blue, you’re going too fast.” ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/57 "2003-09-19T13:40:54Z")
“I’d Rather Be Driving” ---
**Author:** ![patchbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dc4da7/32.png) [@patchbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patchbunny)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/58 "2003-09-19T15:52:25Z")
Saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck with Idaho plates the other day: “My boss is an Austrian Painter” –Patch ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/59 "2003-09-19T15:57:17Z")
Surreal moment: Seeing a Yugo with a **PIMP** sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381/60 "2003-09-19T16:36:19Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sauron_ > The passenger-side window of the van has been rolled down, and I am staring at a child who, judging by his actions, has obviously eaten several gallons of lead paint during those moments in his life when he’s not pursuing his favorite hobby of jamming his fingers into electrical sockets. ::wipes away a tear:: That was beautiful, man. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-argument-against-bumper-stickers/202381.md?page=4)