# Does this license plate mean what I think it does? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 8, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054 "2017-11-08T14:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/21 "2017-11-09T20:26:22Z")
It means at least 7 other people have a BEKKK license plate. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/22 "2017-11-09T20:56:08Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > With the mention of the masonic symbols, I wonder if it is a reference to the Daughters of Rebekah, the auxiliary organization of the International Order of Odd Fellows. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International\_Association\_of\_Rebekah\_Assemblies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Rebekah_Assemblies) Except that the Odd Fellows aren’t Masonic. They have no relationship and are separate, distinct fraternal groups. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/23 "2017-11-09T21:43:23Z")
I did a google image search of BEKKK and there was an image like one of those “keep calm” posters that said [“Keep BEKKK with Faliq Noise of Korban”](http://www.keepcalmandposters.com/poster/5211663_keep_bekkk_with_faliq_noise_of_korban) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/24 "2017-11-09T21:47:51Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > yeah, I (optimistically?) doubt it means what it looks like initially. AFAIK when you request a personalized plate, you have to explain what it means before they’ll approve it. I don’t think even the reddest of red states would let something through that refers to the Klan, and it would have to be a pretty convincing explanation for what it really means. So you believe the state asked BEKKK 8 for an explanation and was satisfied that it wasn’t a reference to the Klan? When I lived in Maryland I had at least two personalized plates, and no explanation was ever requested. (They weren’t anything controversial, however.) I know that states can deny tags on the basis of obscenity and offensiveness, and have heard about disputes over those issues. I seem to recall hearing of a case where “4 Nick 8” was denied, even though the applicant claimed the car was an 8-cylinder model that was a gift for someone named Nick. But would some states consider any combination with KKK in it offensive and disallow it? Clearly this state didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/25 "2017-11-09T23:00:39Z")
My SIL got a random plate which had PMS and 3 numbers. She didn’t like it and threw a fit til they jumped her up to the next random series. So the DMV ain’t always on top of connotations of combos of letters. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/26 "2017-11-09T23:46:59Z")
They’re not completely clueless. I’m pretty sure they don’t issue tags with combinations like ASS or FUK or KOK. It’s probably just that in cases like PMS they don’t want to pre-emptively eliminate 1,000 possible plates on the chance that people like your SIL won’t like them. I imagine most people offered PMS didn’t know or didn’t care about that implication. Or even liked it! ---
**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:** [November 10, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/27 "2017-11-10T00:31:34Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Well, there was a space between the last K and the 8: BEKKK 8, not BEKKK8, so there shouldn’t have been a surprise. > > And I’m pretty sure the plate had room for at least two more characters, so there’s no reason it couldn’t have been BEKK K8, unless that had already been taken. At least in the states I’ve lived in, there’s a known fixed maximum number of characters. 6, 7, or 8 being common. Some states allow one embedded half-space that doesn’t count as a character. IME they count full spaces as characters, but two plates can’t differ only by placement of spaces. So someone getting “B EKKK8” will prevent anyone from getting “BE KKK 8”, “BEK KK8”, etc. Because with the spaces crushed out, they all collapse to “BEKKK8” > [@jz78817](#): > > yeah, I (optimistically?) doubt it means what it looks like initially. AFAIK when you request a personalized plate, you have to explain what it means before they’ll approve it. I don’t think even the reddest of red states would let something through that refers to the Klan, and it would have to be a pretty convincing explanation for what it really means. IME in several states they don’t ask up front. They reserve the right to demand an explanation (which they may not approve of) but unless the plate trips some screen of theirs, or they get complaints from other drivers, no explanation is necessary. > [@commasense](#): > > They’re not completely clueless. I’m pretty sure they don’t issue tags with combinations like ASS or FUK or KOK. > … I’ve told this story before, but my Mom was a court reporter back in the day when they used those manual stenotype machines [Stenotype - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenotype). The output is phonetic shorthand that’s completely illegible to the uninitiated. When California came out with personalized plates in the 1970s, another reporter in her office immediately applied for, and got, a plate that read the steno equivalent of “FUCK YOU”. To the rest of us it looked like a cat walked on the keyboard. He had that plate for years. 😃 OTOH, there’s a story of a young guy who ordered & received the plate “GOT MILF”. He had it for a couple years before it’d accumulated enough complaints for DMV to investigate. He came back with some story about being head of an organization whose initials were “MILF”. They bought it for awhile as the complaints continued. He eventually got in minor legal trouble for falsifying a public record by lying to the bureaucrat in writing about what MILF meant. They took his plate for good. :mad: > [@commasense](#): > > … > It’s probably just that in cases like PMS they don’t want to pre-emptively eliminate 1,000 possible plates on the chance that people like your SIL won’t like them. I imagine most people offered PMS didn’t know or didn’t care about that implication. Or even liked it! This. My wife once got issued an ordinary plate that included “HA8”. The other chunk of letters/numbers were useless; we couldn’t come up with an interpretation that was either funny or obnoxious. She was not happy about dragging “HATE” wherever she went, but wasn’t annoyed enough to do anything about it. DMV couldn’t care less that they made 2600 folks (1 letter + 2 digits) drive around advertising for hate. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/28 "2017-11-10T00:40:10Z")
We have someone local who has a custom plate with “5” and “HIT”. They got away with “5HIT”. I see them about once a month with their innocuous Camry. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/29 "2017-11-10T00:58:58Z")
Here’s one CA DMV missed: I saw this with my own rear-view mirror (hint, hint): 3M TA3 ---
**Author:** ![MareIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@MareIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MareIt)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/30 "2017-11-11T02:05:17Z")
In Virginia, at least, even hyphens don’t make a plate different enough from a non-hyphen version. For example, IH8-I66 is the ‘same’ as IH8I66 and I H8 I66 and IH8 I66 so if the first one is gone, by default, so are the rest. Note: the above example is not my license plate, but one I’ve seen locally. And anyone from the DC metro area will understand why and how that is a true statement for anyone who has ever driven on I66 anytime between 5am and 10pm. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/31 "2017-11-11T04:57:23Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Long ago when I was in the marketing profession a colleague was doing an identity for a woman who was opening a custom bakery. She wanted to call it KKKatie’s (for cake-cake-Katie’s, or some such). My colleague talked her into something else but she never seemed to realize why this might be a bad idea. > > But it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the OP, especially with the 8, that would rhyme. It’s Katie, back to her original name for her business. K-K-K-Katie, Beautiful Katie, You’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore. When the m-moon shines, Over the cow shed, I’ll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/32 "2017-11-13T00:19:56Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > K-K-K-Katie, > Beautiful Katie, > You’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore. > When the m-moon shines, > Over the cow shed, > I’ll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door. Back in the k-k-k-eighties I knew a woman named Kate whose license plate was indeed KKKKATY. (Possibly …KATIE, not positive after all these years.) I rather doubt NY state would permit that today. As has been mentioned there are other referents for KKK. I read a mystery story once in which a baseball scoreboard operator was killed following a game, but left a dying message on the scoreboard: KKK. The investigation looked first for Klansmen at the stadium but soon realized the message referred to the home team’s closer, who had struck out all three batters in the ninth to end the game. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2017, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054/33 "2017-11-13T00:46:32Z")
My daughter had a neighbor-friend named Katie. When they were 7-ish I came home from a work xmas party a little tipsy. Katie and my daughter were watching Barney tapes. I gave my daughter a hug, then joyously sang the K-K-K Katie song to the girls. Tipsy? I was drunk. Then I went to check on dinner. From the kitchen I overheard my kid telling her friend that I was an amazing singer, and I wrote songs all the time. Katie was in awe. I never corrected their misunderstanding. (I did occasionally make up simple songs, inserting their names into preexisting lullabys and such, but I was born lacking any real talent.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-this-license-plate-mean-what-i-think-it-does/801054.md?page=1)