# Do you have family stickers on your car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592 "2010-03-07T04:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/21 "2010-03-10T16:54:43Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > [This](http://chattywalls.com/images/product/WWFamilyIs1007.gif) (cheesy sayings in vinyl wall lettering) is one of the dumbest f\*cking things I have ever seen… :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Wow, if I ever visited that house, those cheesy sayings would risk being liberally coated with projectile chunder. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/22 "2010-03-10T16:56:58Z")
Reposting something I wrote when **Elmwood** declared these stickers to be “lame”. > [@Me](#): > > I’ll address this one. > > I don’t have stick-figures, I have turtles, but the concept is the same. I have four sea turtles, Hawaiian style, and the word “Ohana” below them. > > I got them for my son. > > My soon-to-be-ex and I are divorcing and a couple weeks ago, my oldest boy, the empathetic one, said, “We’re not a family anymore.” > > I was quietly crushed. > > I said, “Yes, we are. We’re just a different kind now.” > > I found and bought those turtles a couple weeks later, a daddy turtle and three kid turtles. It helps to emphasize to him, I hope, that we’re still a family. Thanks to Lilo and Stitch, they all know the word “Ohana” and the extended meaning given it by the show. > > “Ohana means family… and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten” > > So - not lame to me at all. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/23 "2010-03-10T17:11:31Z")
Reminds me of the 1990s fad to have those [white oval euro-type stickers](http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1613/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1613R-16737.jpg) with one to three black letters indicating the city where you live rather than a European country. Maybe it was just a SoCal thing. I don’t know. SD = San Diego SJC = San Juan Capistrano BP = Buena Park TEM = Temecula Etc. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/24 "2010-03-10T17:42:13Z")
In South Carolina a lot of people have these palm tree stickers to differentiate themselves from the tourists. Then some even snobbier types started putting the word “Native” underneath to differentiate themselves from the carpet baggers and snow birds. When I see this stuff I just wonder why they think we’d be interested? But yeah, OK, Turtle Guy gets a pass and kudos even . . . ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/25 "2010-03-10T19:41:47Z")
I rarely see any with just one parent and children. I like Belrix’s idea of the turtles and “ohana” - it gets the concept across without being too obvious. Can you make custom stickers? 'Cause if you can, when I finally get a car I want to put on a sticker of Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi Moon, for my daughter and me. The ones I don’t like are the “in memoriam” ones - I see them on cars all the time and get sad if I see the dates of birth and death are closer than 20 years apart. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/26 "2010-03-11T02:24:21Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Reminds me of the 1990s fad to have those [white oval euro-type stickers](http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1613/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1613R-16737.jpg) with one to three black letters indicating the city where you live rather than a European country. Maybe it was just a SoCal thing. I don’t know. > > SD = San Diego > SJC = San Juan Capistrano > BP = Buena Park > TEM = Temecula > > Etc. It seems like it wasn’t just a SoCal thing. I’ve seen them a lot around here, and usually they are on large SUV’s and whatnot. A few years back, my father entered a contest to win a dock at a marina on Lake Erie at a huge discount. He won and moved his boat over to it, and it was a much higher priced place. The majority of folks there spent a lot of time on Kelleys Island. The people in the office there gave KI stickers to a ton of people, but dad wouldn’t put it on his truck. He has a few stickers on the back glass, but thought that was dumb looking (his are an alumni sticker about the size of a credit card and a little BoatUS member one). He came home and smacked it on my mom’s station wagon. She complained all the time. I never saw the appeal of them, other than goofy stuff we could find to put on mom’s car and bug here. I’m planning on finding one soon to put on her new care. Brendon Small ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/27 "2010-03-11T03:01:11Z")
No but I have a peace magnet on my trunk next to my license plate. [My Peace Magnet](http://www.yogalifestyle.com/MAVPPeaceSignMagnets.htm) ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/28 "2010-03-11T03:15:23Z")
I saw one of these the other day: [![](https://rlv.zcache.com/fish_n_chips_fish_bumper_sticker-p128916411572434036trl0_400.jpg) ](https://rlv.zcache.com/fish_n_chips_fish_bumper_sticker-p128916411572434036trl0_400.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/29 "2010-03-11T03:18:50Z")
Like Oak said, it’d just give me an idea as to the maximum amount of victims there would be in the car. That being said, I really want to get one female sticker and like twenty cat stickers. ---
**Author:** ![Digger1914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@Digger1914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger1914)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/30 "2010-03-11T11:09:56Z")
Where I live, I see many window stickers that show off the HS kid’s school, first name, sport & uniform #. Combine that w/ a personalized license plate and you are giving bad people an easy way in. Say your teenage daughter is driving your minivan w/ her cheerleading sticker in the window. That’s just giving away too much info. I understand pride in your kids and fundraising for the school, but be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/31 "2010-03-11T21:05:04Z")
> [@Digger1914](#): > > Where I live, I see many window stickers that show off the HS kid’s school, first name, sport & uniform #. Combine that w/ a personalized license plate and you are giving bad people an easy way in. And yet, how many of them have actually been kidnapped? None. Kidnappings by strangers are so rare as to be almost non-existent. We don’t live in the world that Dateline or CSI would have you believe we live in. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Digger1914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@Digger1914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digger1914)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/32 "2010-03-11T23:57:23Z")
There is just no need to unessessarily have the risk. These incidences are assuredly very rare, but why do something that might make it easier. How far do your kids walk to school unsupervised every day? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/33 "2010-03-12T20:57:12Z")
> [@Digger1914](#): > > why do something that might make it easier. Because there are significant negative externalities to behaving in such a cloistered, paranoid way that you’re just ignoring. Dorky as I think these stickers are, they give pleasure and pride to those who exhibit them. The same with t-shirts or boosterism stickers. Refusing to let kids express themselves or show off their accomplishments is a lot more likely to stunt them emotionally than the opposite is to get them kidnapped. And if your driving-age daughter is going to get kidnapped by a stranger, god forbid, it’s not going to be through subterfuge. Keeping secret her position on the JV volleyball squad isn’t going to do a damn sight to keep her safe. > [@](#): > > How far do your kids walk to school unsupervised every day? She’s two, and her school is about eight miles away, so she gets a ride. But when I was in elementary school, back when crime rates were **way** higher than they are now, I walked 10 blocks through a pretty sketchy neighborhood every day, and nothing ever happened to me or any of the other 800 kids who went to my school. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/34 "2010-03-12T21:25:35Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Suburbanites and Mexicans. > Slightly less tacky than the vinyl sticker tombstones that some people have. Wait, vinyl tombstones? Got a link? My wife would be ALL OVER that, based on here Halloween predilection. Come to think of it, some of these would look good on the back window of our Hearse… ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/35 "2010-03-12T21:33:53Z")
> [@Digger1914](#): > > Where I live, I see many window stickers that show off the HS kid’s school, first name, sport & uniform #. Combine that w/ a personalized license plate and you are giving bad people an easy way in. Say your teenage daughter is driving your minivan w/ her cheerleading sticker in the window. That’s just giving away too much info. I understand pride in your kids and fundraising for the school, but be safe. The only ones I ever see are for gigantic football-playing young men. I wouldn’t want to try to kidnap them, they’d just sit on me. ---
**Author:** ![aerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@aerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/36 "2010-03-15T09:16:47Z")
> [@C3](#): > > We don’t have these, but I bet my kids would really like them. They totally buy into the “family is a team” thing and they’re very loyal to the team. They’re little, though - I’m sure they’ll have gotten over that in a few years. I have seen a couple cars in the school carpool lane with one big sticker and a couple little stickers (single parent, I assume) and there’s the huge utility van that has two big Christian fish and eight (!) little fish. In the South, from what I’ve seen, these are most common on big SUVs with a ‘fish’ symbol and a big sticker displaying which fundamental evangelical Baptist church they attend. I rarely see these on anything else. Maybe this is their idea of ‘family values’. ---
**Author:** ![aerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@aerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerie)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/37 "2010-03-15T09:24:50Z")
Also fairly common here is the displaying of an ‘obituary’ of someone who died. Huge vinyl letters on the back windshield. In Loving Memory of: Billy Bob Hicks 1945-2010 Insert some cheesy fake sentiment here: “gone but never forgotten” Insert some cheesy cross or some such idolatry. Insert some cherry-picked scripture. I really don’t get the mindset behind this one. ---
**Author:** ![breaking-reality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/38 "2010-03-15T21:49:58Z")
> [@aerie](#): > > Also fairly common here is the displaying of an ‘obituary’ of someone who died. Huge vinyl letters on the back windshield. > > In Loving Memory of: > Billy Bob Hicks > 1945-2010 > Insert some cheesy fake sentiment here: “gone but never forgotten” > Insert some cheesy cross or some such idolatry. > Insert some cherry-picked scripture. > > I really don’t get the mindset behind this one. I’m not sure I really understand this one, either, but we all grieve in different ways so I usually leave things like that alone. Just recently a friend of mine attended a fundraiser event for a family raising funds to pay for the funeral of someone who had just passed away. They had a band play and had t-shirts with something similar to what you stated above on the back of them. My friend said everyone had a good time and they were able to raise the funds for the funeral. This I understand a little bit more, but to me it just seems horribly depressing. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/39 "2010-03-16T19:21:46Z")
> [@uncle\_squeegee](#): > > I’ve never seen a single person, nor a same-sex couple (though a poster in the thread linked above mentioned that they had). So if you have any out of the ordinary combinations or versions, I would like to hear about those too. Nor have I seen a single parent or anyone with a single child with one. There’s usually three stick-figure children, if not more; rarely two. I saw them everywhere when I lived in Texas, often in conjunction with vinyl displays of their child’s athletic or cheerleading prowess (names, player numbers, positions, etc). Such displays are quite rare in the Buffalo area, but when I’ve seen them, again, there’s no single moms, same-sex couples or single-child families depicted. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592/40 "2010-03-16T19:30:42Z")
Too late to edit. Also, when I was living in Austin, I saw a lot of: - Stereotypical liberal sticker displays, where the entire rear end of a car would be covered in various cause-related stickers and pithy phrases. - The indie variant; similar to the liberal Volvo or Prius displays, only with stickers of bands you’ve never heard of. The stickers were probably changed on a regular basis, as bands sold out to the man and got too popular. - Ovals with “26.2” displayed on them, usually on Nissa Xterras and other imported SUVs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-family-stickers-on-your-car/531592.md?page=3)