# Custom Licence Plates — Seen in the Wild **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 11, 2023, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965 "2023-11-11T02:25:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 163
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3241 "2026-06-02T15:51:11Z")
You reminded me of one I used to see irregularly COGPOW Meaning I am a child of God and person of worth She was a therapist. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3242 "2026-06-02T22:01:08Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > She was a therapist. I initially read that as > She ~~was~~ saw a therapist. IMO my way makes at least as much sense. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3243 "2026-06-02T22:18:32Z")
No argument, I just knew her, knew her slogan. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3244 "2026-06-02T23:44:26Z")
This Tesla MUST belong to a Marine [![](https://i.imgur.com/R0VCd2Q.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/R0VCd2Q.jpg) [![](https://i.imgur.com/euBLSMs.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/euBLSMs.jpg) Marine = Jarhead = Gyrene My guess, anyway. Semper Fidelis ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3245 "2026-06-02T23:59:52Z")
Went into the office today for the first time in a couple of weeks and got rewarded with a decent haul of plates on the way home. **PEPE** on a black Mustang **WILL1** on something else black and sporty looking **2023 ST** on a…wait for it… Ford Explorer ST that I’m assuming was a 2023 model **BUYHOM** on a Ball State University plate. Guessing maybe a Realtor? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3246 "2026-06-03T01:48:38Z")
**QUEEN1** - didn’t get a look at the driver **RUKSUND** - it seems to be the old spelling of a coastal village Røksund, Norway. It can also be used as a last name, so somehow it’s probably related to that. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3247 "2026-06-03T02:21:59Z")
**KAHRANA** on a Honda Civic. Something human resources Ana? Or is Kahr a name, so Kahr Ana? Or something completely different? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3248 "2026-06-03T16:12:35Z")
This morning: **SCRUBBS** on a BMW parked near a hospital. Probably self explanatory. **BB2 PWR** on a Tesla. I assume that is somehow related to the Tesla’s drive train or battery pack, but I don’t feel like researching what “BB2 Power” is. **A 94 OBS** on a customized Silverado with a decal in the rear window that read “OBS Mafia”. That still doesn’t explain what OBS stands for, but I am guessing the OBS Mafia is a club for custom truck owners. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3249 "2026-06-03T16:25:29Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > OBS JD Power tells me that > The abbreviation OBS stands for “Old Body Style” in reference to the boxy and rugged look of trucks from the 1990s. [https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-does-obs-truck-mean](https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-does-obs-truck-mean) ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2026, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3250 "2026-06-03T18:26:40Z")
(Reads “the 90’s” described as old. Grows annoyed.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3251 "2026-06-04T02:05:27Z")
I just drove from Northern Virginia to Pittsburgh and back, my first major road trip since the pandemic. I didn’t notice a _single_ vanity plate during the trip, until _the very end_ when I was on the the thoroughfare that leads to my own neighborhood, I noticed two following each other: BUJITSU and LUV LOTS ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3252 "2026-06-04T03:06:16Z")
**DWNHIL** - Skier, mountain biker, or having a bad time at life. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3253 "2026-06-04T05:31:05Z")
Or maybe a name, Dawn Hill. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3254 "2026-06-04T06:16:28Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > I just drove from Northern Virginia to Pittsburgh and back, my first major road trip since the pandemic. I didn’t notice a _single_ vanity plate during the trip, until _the very end_ when … I find this surprising because IME many drivers in Virginia have customized plates — the percentage of plates in Virginia that are customized is higher in general than most states. I don’t have data to support that but that’s a guess on my part. It was probably just a bad day. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3255 "2026-06-04T11:44:02Z")
The daily variance in plate-spotting is amazing to me. Driving around my local burb, generally within 5 miles of home, I can have a day with a half-dozen and another day with zero. Back when I drove to work, ~50 miles along the same route at varying times of day, some days I score 10, other days none. I’d expect a much more homogenous experience. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3256 "2026-06-04T14:43:03Z")
Could be confirmation bias, I suppose. You notice one early on the commute and you’re primed to look for more. Nothing happens in the first ten minutes and you start thinking about that memo you’re going to send when you arrive at work. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3257 "2026-06-04T16:17:47Z")
Spotted 2 this morning: **🖤BNJOVY**. If it wasn’t already obvious, there was also a frame that read “100 million Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong.” (I also assume the correct spelling with an ‘I’ was already taken.) **PENCLIT** on a RAV4. “Pencil it”, as in “Pencil it in”, maybe? (I also saw that it could be parsed as “pen clit”, but I can’t imagine that was actually the intended meaning). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3258 "2026-06-04T16:24:55Z")
In the military bureaucracy to “pencil whip” something was to sign off the documentation that some work had been done, without actually doing the work. “He pencil-whipped the hourly bathroom cleanings so often the filth was apalling.” Sorta the documentational equivalent of “phone it in.” I don’t know how much that term has pervaded the civilian and corporate bureaucracies. But I think it has at least some. I could easily see your plate intending that meaning. As to “pen clit”, I could see somebody taking a juvenile pleasure in having slipped that “dirty word” past the censors under the guise of “It’s just ‘pencil it’.” Like the infamous **GOT MILF** guy. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3259 "2026-06-04T16:49:35Z")
**BOATZ** on a BMW ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/3260 "2026-06-04T16:59:12Z")
I’m going to be on foot for a week then out of the country for 2 weeks, so my plate sightings will be few and far between for awhile. But here’s my recent small haul: - **LAM⎵TRK** on a FL standard plate on a Lamborghini Urus SUV with an extra noisy poppy farty exhaust system. The “LAM” is obvious, and I suspect “TRK” is meant to stand for “trick”, as in tricked-out. I doubt it was “track” as in “I race this thing on weekends.” - **W-BADGER** on a FL standard plate on a Volvo crossover. Evidently a U of Wisconsin alum or fan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965.md?page=162) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965.md?page=164)