# Custom Licence Plates — Seen in the Wild
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965
**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:** 4
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/61 "2023-11-13T01:04:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> Now that it’s snowbird season, what’s the bag limit? And why is there a limit? -
Overhunting can cause a shortage due to their low reproduction rate.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/62 "2023-11-13T01:11:30Z")
I saw one that said “MENGELE” a while back. I reported it but don’t know if any action was taken.
More recently, I saw one that said “MMCXII.” Yeah, I got it too.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/63 "2023-11-13T01:13:38Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> Overhunting can cause a shortage due to their low reproduction rate.
One can only hope.
One thousand people move to my state permanently per _day_. Migration swamps reproduction.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/64 "2023-11-13T11:51:34Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> I saw one that said “MENGELE” a while back. I reported it but don’t know if any action was taken.
Could it have been owned by someone with that surname? The Nazi doctor wasn’t the only Mengele, nor even the only famous Mengele. (There’s also, for example, the inventor Benno Mengele the artist Friedrich Mengele.) I know a lot of jurisdictions generally prohibit any word, name, number, or abbreviation with an offensive meaning, but will make exceptions if the registrant can demonstrate that it’s used innocently. For example, California has a rule against the number 69 on vanity plates, but makes an exception for 1969-model vehicles.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/65 "2023-11-13T12:02:14Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Yes, on a phone.
I couldn’t read it on my laptop. Ancient eyes.
On a black SUV here in Phoenix: **AZ OVEN**
On our Honda Civic: [**SALUQI**](https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/saluki/)
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/66 "2023-11-13T14:31:22Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> Could it have been owned by someone with that surname?
That argument didn’t work for Mr Grabher in Nova Scotia:
> **[Supreme Court won’t hear appeal of Nova Scotia man’s ‘Grabher’ licence plate...](https://globalnews.ca/news/8689904/grabher-supreme-court-appeal-licence-plate/amp/)**
>
> The Supreme Court of Canada won't hear an appeal by a Nova Scotia man who was seeking to reverse the revocation of a personalized licence plate bearing his surname, 'Grabher.'
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### Author:  [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/67 "2023-11-13T14:52:33Z")
VW Jetta: RETURN
Pink Jeep with “girly” accoutrments: RUB1OUT
Vehicle not relevant: PHO CUE (say it out loud, pronouncing “PHO” correctly)
On a Virginia “Horse” plate: LIKE A (presumably “hung” is implied?)
Two old stories about California tags, both likely apocryphal:
- Guy got SEXISOK, then DMV pulled it. He wrote the governor asking if it was official state policy that sex was NOT OK. He got his tag back.
- Guy got NO TAG, thinking it would get him out of parking tickets. Instead the reverse happened: every time a car got written up that had no tags, HE got the ticket. I really don’t believe this one, but I like it anyway.
Those “clever” 1001010-type tags strike me as baiting the cops, unlikely to have a positive result…
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/68 "2023-11-13T14:54:41Z")
I’m surprised you didn’t cite this (for you) more local example:
> **[Assman, denied licence plate, displays name across truck's tailgate | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/dave-assman-sgi-vanity-licence-plate-1.5017377)**
>
> Dave Assman is sticking it to the man by sticking it to the back his truck.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/69 "2023-11-13T14:57:05Z")
> [@phs3](#):
>
> Guy got NO TAG, thinking it would get him out of parking tickets. Instead the reverse happened: every time a car got written up that had no tags, HE got the ticket. I really don’t believe this one, but I like it anyway.
Snopes say it’s true. Though inadvertent.
> **[What Happens When Your License Plate Says 'NO PLATE'?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/auto-no-plate/)**
>
> Motorists with personalized license plates reading 'NO PLATE' or 'NO TAG' received a plethora of traffic tickets.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/70 "2023-11-13T14:57:10Z")
I’ve never had the desire to personalize my license plates. Besides, if I ever rob a bank, I don’t want my get-away car to have a plate that reads, “JASMINE” LOL
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/71 "2023-11-13T15:15:42Z")
> [@phs3](#):
>
> Guy got NO TAG, thinking it would get him out of parking tickets. Instead the reverse happened: every time a car got written up that had no tags, HE got the ticket.
Same thing (and it’s true) happened to the clever guy who got ‘NULL’ on his plate. Every time a cop would forget to write down the plate number on a ticket, the system flagged it as null, and the fines were sent his way.
> **[How a 'NULL' License Plate Landed One Hacker in Ticket Hell](https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-landed-one-hacker-ticket-hell/)**
>
> Security researcher Joseph Tartaro thought NULL would make a fun license plate. He's never been more wrong.
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### Author:  [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/72 "2023-11-13T15:22:01Z")
Hah! I shoulda checked. Still fun!
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/73 "2023-11-13T15:30:00Z")
Four or five years ago, I saw a BORT license plate. It is a reference to a Simpsons episode where Bart couldn’t find a kids’ souvenir license plate with his name on it at a gift shop, but he saw plenty of BORT license plates. @AlsoNamedBort gets his/her user name from that episode.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/74 "2023-11-13T15:35:25Z")
> [@psychonaut](#):
>
> I’m surprised you didn’t cite this (for you) more local example:
I’d forgotten!
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/75 "2023-11-13T16:34:01Z")
Quite a few years ago I saw some little sports car with a middle age couple driving it. Plate read **MTNEST**
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/76 "2023-11-13T16:35:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> That argument didn’t work for Mr Grabher in Nova Scotia
Some years ago in an article about the California DMV and the lengths it goes to, to keep suggestive plates off of autos, somebody tried **FORNIC8**.
“But it’s for my brother Nick and he owns a V-8!”
“Yeah, when he gets a straight-6 you can get him a plate.”
> [@Jasmine](#):
>
> Besides, if I ever rob a bank, I don’t want my get-away car to have a plate that reads, “JASMINE”
In another article written for paranoid people who worry about being targeted for a carjacking, the writer advised against personal plates for this very reason.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/77 "2023-11-13T16:47:25Z")
> [@phs3](#):
>
> Guy got NO TAG, thinking it would get him out of parking tickets. Instead the reverse happened: every time a car got written up that had no tags, HE got the ticket. I really don’t believe this one, but I like it anyway.
Likely a Sovereign Citizen type tried that.
Note: not a personalized combo, but one which I’ll mention anyway. When I worked for the Florida tag agency 30+ years ago, they had allowed the LSD combo to be used on regular plates. No idea why, of all the combos that they had disallowed, that that one was allowed to slip through.
Based on how often I kept seeing them since then, apparently the FLDMV never bothered to ban it.
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### Author:  [@JoePockets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoePockets)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/78 "2023-11-13T16:52:51Z")
My neighbors 1970 Corvette has a license plate 4U2NV and a 427 under the hood. I must say I’d love to its the owner !
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### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/79 "2023-11-13T16:58:09Z")
Years ago in south Florida, I saw a little sports car driven by a young woman with the plate “I CRASH”. I kept a fair distance away from her.
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### Author:  [@MonkeysBrother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeysBrother)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/custom-licence-plates-seen-in-the-wild/992965/80 "2023-11-13T17:28:42Z")
Once saw California plates that said NO PRNDL. It’s been a while and I don’t remember the make or model, but I do know what kind of transmission it had.
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