Last week in the online newspaper Kansas Reflector, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas wrote a fine article in which he listed some of the more esoteric/unusual personalized plates that have been issued by the state. He mentioned in the article that he was able to obtain the list of plates from the Department of Revenue. I emailed him and asked him if he could send me the link to this list, and he replied with a spreadsheet that contains the list.
So if anybody wants to know if a particular plate is among the 14,567 that have been issued in Kansas, I have that information!
I used to use that name when playing electronic trivia in the 90’s (the one that multiple bars log into). So many people started calling me Gus , thinking I was Big Gus.
The one Delorean I saw in the wild (it was parked, so I assume it got there by being driven) had the license plate DLOREAN. Yesterday I saw MYWORD and wondered if the driver was the type of person to clutch their pearls all the time. I also could not figure out if the mini-van with 4␣FUTBOL designated the van, or expressed the feelings of the people in it. HOCKEE was simple though, given the other Hockey stickers on the car.
Guys, I’d ordered my personalized plates about 5 months ago and still have not received them. So the other day I was near the DMV where I’d ordered them (not the one nearest my house, because I wanted to order from a place where the wait times aren’t as long), and I stopped in to check on them. I thought I might have missed the notice that they’d arrived.
While there I was told that it takes them 11months (!) for them to arrive. 11 months!!??!! Give me a break!
Saw an Ontario plate with ARCHIE⎵JR. Archie is about 70.
Saw a basic FL plate with CHERRYT⎵. Yup, left-justified, not centered. My first thought was somebody with first name Cherry & last name starting with T who flunked application form filling-out. Or somebody who really liked cherry-flavored tea & still flunked application form filling-out.
I could also see Cherryt maybe pronounced shuh-REET as one of those cutesy unique names some folks come up with for a baby girl. I could not get a look at this driver.
Saw a late model Corvette with Michigan plates reading JBSTEEL; centered w no spaces. The passenger was a low-60s woman with gray hair. I barely caught a glimpse of the driver but I think it was a similarly aged he. Google finds several company names akin to that, but none in Michigan.
It’d be extra cool if their other car had JB⎵WELD .
Out for the evening I found a Porsche Taycan with a standard FL plate reading DELITE . They are nice cars, but delight seems a bit over the top. Or maybe it’s a ref to their employer, Deloitte?
It’s about a 3-1/2 hour drive from where I saw the car to that AirBnB. Not impossible but IMO not real likely. Good sleuthing though.
Unrelated to the above …
Today I saw SEA⎵SHRP. At first I was thinking of something sharp or dangerous in the ocean, like a spiny fish. Then I thought “SHRP” might be short for “sherpa” and the owner was some kind of nautical tour guide, tour boat captain, etc. Or he was a real sharpie, i.e. highly skilled, at boating or fishing or …
A couple hours later it hit me. The popular computer programming language C# (pronounced cee sharp). Maybe they’re a developer who uses that language. Bonus points if they write boat- or ocean-related software.
I tried to GUESWHO but with the dark tinted windows and no stickers or anything, I had no clue. Maybe I should have told them to BUZZ␣OFF but that is not what is on my plate. Given the state of the world I do kind of agree with BLEGH that doesn’t mean I think I DONTRY the best advice even if it is on a Dodge Charger.
Tonight I saw a Tesla with an Ontario plate with RASSTSLA. Which I suppose decodes as “Ras’s Tesla”. I wonder if RAS is their initials (e.g. Robert Adam Smith) or “Ras” is a name / nickname.
I have also noticed that only California and Ontario have 8-character plates. Given the vast population in CA, that makes some sense. But ON? OMG WTF?
Hmm. I wonder if my local DMW would issue OMG⎵WTF? A quick visit to their site says it’s taken. Likewise WTF⎵OMG. Darn.
They say they prohibit obscene or objectionable plates, but it appears that’s a separate manual step. The website says both FUCK⎵IT & FUCKIT are available, but somehow I bet I’d not actually get that plate back in the mail if requested. Be fun to try though.
