I searched through the archives, and found a few threads on vanity plates, but didn’t see the answer to this question. If it is somewhere I didn’t look, I apologize in advance.
I assume that most, if not all US states use one of the following formats for the standard issue plates:
ABC-123
ABC-1234
123-ABC
1234-ABC
Now, is there a master list somewhere of all the 3 and 4 letter words that they won’t issue? Obviously you’re aren’t going to get a LP that says 784-FUCK or ASS-399 or FAG-7332. DO they have to have a big list somewhere of what words don’t get issued?
New York State has a list of words that cannot appear on a license plate. There was a story (sorry, can’t get specifics) in the news a while back about a guy who had a plate that someone found objectionable. They took the plate away from him and added that word to the list.
This is handled separately for each state. There is no master list in Virginia, although I think there is a list that flags plates for examination by a real person. Borderline cases are decided by the commissioner. Complaints from people about an existing plate can cause it to be recalled, as decided by the commissioner.
zev_steinhardt: You might be thinking about the person who had “ZYKLON B” as a license plate. It was a nerve gas used in the Holocaust. The person in question had apparently had it for a few years before anyone noticed and complained. I don’t remember what state it was in.
I remember a news story a few years ago about a pair of lesbians that wanted vanity plates reading “2 DYKES”. The DMV had revoked them, and the women were appealing the decision.
After a few posts we’re already forking into 2 very different areas:
getting a non-personalized plate with letters that happen to spell a word that could be offensive, and
choosing a PERSONALIZED plate that has offensive message in it (Example: the dim bulb here in Va. who got “ZYKLON B” on his plate (that was a gas used in the Nazi death camps.))
It sounds like the OP was about question 1. First off, yes, there are some states that don’t use the number-letter combos you listed (off the top of my head: Maine uses 1234X, I think Delaware still uses all numerals, Wyoming uses a mini number letter combo (county code?) and 4 or 5 digits, California often has combinations like 1XYZ234, and I think Texas still uses A12-BCD.) Also, in recent years the number of “special issue” plates has increased vastly in most states (Florida and Maryland are 2 I notice in particular). These specialty plates often use their own numbering convention, to match the theme of the plate (WL-1234 for a wildlife plate, for ex.) or just to use 1 or 2 fewer characters to make more room for the graphics.
I once saw California’s list of “banned” 3-letter combos that the plate makers would presumably skip while making plates. My bookmark for the list no longer works. Many were obvious, but some were more subtle. Note that with 3 letters and 4 digits you will have about 175 million unique combinations , so most states can ban a lot of 3-letter combos and still have plenty of plates left for many years to come. The state probably errs on the side of caution.
Here in Virginia they switched from 6 to 7 characters in the early '90s and all new standard-style plates were in “XYZ-1234” format. They started with ZZZ-9999 and are working their way down (ten thousand ZZZ, ten thousand ZZY, etc.). Right now they are at about YLA-9999. (side note: a friend of mine is above ZZZ-9985… I guess he was close to the front of the line at the DMV when they switched!) (another side note: I earnestly hope that the Va. driver who was assigned YYZ-2112 was a Rush fan!)
Indiana’s standard car plates have a format of 1 or 2 digits indicating one of the 92 counties, then a letter, then up to 4 more digits. Truck and trailer plates are all-numbers. Vanity plates are available, except for a forbidden list. There’s also a plethora of special plates honoring universities, Shriners, Master Masons, Purple Heart recipients, children’s charities, environmental causes, eligibility for handicapped parking, and such. This proliferation irritates cops, who have trouble keeping track of them all.
I heard an NPR story not long ago about a state where folks issued plates with an FAT prefix were angrily returning them.
Yeah, I see them around Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinett mostly.
A few years ago, the last time GA changed their style of license plate(from the one before the peach one, I think) I was living in Chattanooga, and there was a story on the news about people getting upset because they were getting plates that said XXX-FAT. So those plates were discontinued-at least in that plate style.
My WAG, as a Pennsy native is that you might slip by with " Bytsche ", and PMS-666 might fly. I’d assume that plain old vanilla “BITCH” would be on a flag list. Remember…these guys still have Blue Laws
Virginia has issued, then recalled, several plates. One notable one was GOVT SUX. I thought it was original and with a touch of irony. Now, any SUX combination is banned.
A Domino’s driver had FOAD MF. I saw it personally, but I don’t know if anyone clued in to what that meant.
I think they’re looking out for any that start with 3M, which reads ME in a rear-view mirror. So 3M TA3 is out. I once saw 3M W018; the numbers must’ve confused the board.
I’ve also seen one plate with some combination of W, M, X, K, Z, V, and L. Using all 7 with the narrow serif font that Virginia uses now it makes it almost impossible to read at first glance. And with the old sans serif font, I saw one equally hard to read at first glance that used S, G, 8, B, 2, and 5.
There was a car that I used to see around here with license plate “A PUSSY”. From the amount of “I love cats” paraphenilia all over the car, apparently the owner intended the feline interpretation. There was a news item about the car in question - the state (CA) tried to withdraw the vanity plate. The lady who had the plate fought it and won.
In Ontario, the current series of passenger-car plate numbers are AAAA-000 to AAAA-999, AAAB-000 to AAAB-999, AAAC-000 to AAAC-999, and so on, to ZZZZ-999.
I think they’re up to AH-something in the letters. Which has me wondering: there aren’t that many four-letter words that start with A. I don’t remember seeing one! Is it possible that they are screening out all of the four-letter English words starting with A?
And do they check the combinations against the dozens of other languages spoken in Ontario?
This may remove only a few character combinations, but in a decade or so we’ll be into the Bs and there will be lots of words to block…
FWIW, earlier series of Ontarian plates were 000-AAA to ZZZ-999, and before that, AAA-000 to ZZZ-999. All were white with blue characters, except for dealer plates (yellow with black characters) and diplomatic plates (red with white characters).
Commercial plates are 0000AA to 9999ZZ, and, earlier, AA0000 to ZZ9999. White with black characters.
Custom plates are up to eight characters. Six-digit plate numbers with graphics are also available, 00AA00 to 99ZZ99; the letter code seems to sometimes match the graphic (for instance, ##ML## with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey-team logo).
Maryland only has two types of plates, the save the bay and the normal ones. They do have school plates though, but not that many.
There are some states that you can get away with using “BUTT” or “BUT” in the plates. I know a couple of guys that have “Iron Butt” on their bikes. I also remember some guy wanting SATAN for his plate but they wouldn’t give it to him even though I’ve seen JESUS plates. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 666 plate either. that’s one of my things to do on the road, spot plates, makes it more intersting. I think in three days I saw something like 40 different states.