# The most difficult liscense plate to remember
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 15, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935 "2003-04-15T20:28:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/41 "2003-06-03T16:25:06Z")
Well that easiest to remember was one on a BMW awhile back.
“WAS HIS”
😃
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### Author:  [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/42 "2003-06-04T06:45:54Z")
From **NoGoodNamesLeft** ’s link…_FL8 ME_ 😃
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### Author:  [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/43 "2003-06-04T07:19:15Z")
I wonder if they hire 14 year old boys to go through the applications. I mean, who could possibly do a better job of spotting the potentially offensive ones?
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### Author:  [@chaidragonfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaidragonfire)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/44 "2019-05-17T12:50:22Z")
An extremely old thread, but I like it, and recently I’ve had the same thoughts.
Any plates with H, V, K, O, 0, 1, I, S, 5, 6, 8, 9, B can all be easily misinterpreted or misidentified.
Personally, I have trouble with S, 5, 6, 8, 9, and B. It’s hard to tell which letter or number it is, because they all look like 8 or B unless you have eagle vision or are up close. And even up close, it’s hard from some states, because their numbers and letters are all rounded and not sharply defined.
So I would say, a plate that is S9BH865 would be something difficult to read.
I used to work with one guy who was a an extremely violent driver. He kept a permanent “mud glob” over two of the numbers/letters on his plate so nobody could identify his plates.
I’ve seen a lot of this type of thing, which is illegal, including those dark plastic covers, but the police don’t do anything to these people.
If you see this kind of thing on a plate, be warned…they are more often than not, extremely vicious drivers.
But if you get any plate special ordered, whether it’s “vanity” or not, it is in fact called a vanity plate. Unless you are ordering for a fleet of vehicles or business vehicles, that is the only exception to having specialty plates on vehicles.
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### Author:  [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/45 "2019-05-17T15:03:16Z")
XKCD:
> **[License Plate](https://xkcd.com/1105/)**
>
> The next day: 'What? Six bank robberies!? But I just vandalized the library!' 'Nice try. They saw your plate with all the 1's and I's.' 'That's impossible! I've been with my car the whole ti-- ... wait. Ok, wow, that was clever of her.'
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### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/46 "2019-05-17T15:05:41Z")
License plates in the UK started with ‘A1’ in 1904 (registered to Earl [a real Earl not some cowboy called Earl] Russell who camped out all night to secure it.) Of course, it didn’t take all that long to need three each, letters and numbers and different letter groups were assigned to different counties.
There were several changes along the way, including the idea that a plate is issued to a vehicle for its life and then scrapped. This did not stop vanity (or cherished) plates because it is still possible to pay to use an existing number so long as it is available. Thus, a well-known comedian has the licence plate COM 1 C on his Bentley.
The current system of two letters, two numbers and three letters has been around since the early part of the century (The letters I, O, U and Z are not used). If you know the system, it tells you the year of registration (mine is 15 = 2015) and the place of registration. If you are unfortunate enough to be run over by one, you only really need to remember the last three letters which reduces the number of candidates to a manageable number.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/47 "2019-05-17T16:16:31Z")
From 2003, concerning CA plate numbers:
> [@](#):
>
> We just recently passed 5AAA000. What happens when we hit 9ZZZ999, I don’t know.
My current plate was issued about a year and a half ago. Starts with a 7W. We are well into the 8s. We’ll find out in a couple of years. I suppose they could start a 10AAA00 pattern.
Of course, some new numbers are now on “legacy” 60s gold-on-black plates, which you can pay $50 extra to have, rather than a white plate. They offered 50s, 60s, 70s legacy plates, but they withdrew the offer and refunded people’s money on 50s and 70s plates as not enough people ordered them.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/48 "2019-05-17T20:35:00Z")
I’m pretty sure that the computer systems regard O and 0 as two different variants of the same character, and likewise I and 1. Thus, not only would “ID10T” come up in a search for “IDIOT”, but it would also prevent anyone else from registering “IDIOT” (or “1DIOT” or “IDI0T” or whatever). And those characters would be counted as numerals, not letters, to decrease the impact on the space size.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/49 "2019-05-17T20:48:22Z")
BELEZ
Then get a license plate frame that cuts off the bottom of your plate, turning Es into Fs, Ls into Is, Bs into Rs, and Zs into 7s.
Witnesses would see RFIF7.
Take the frame off after each caper.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/50 "2019-05-18T01:00:11Z")
Wouldn’t the hardest plate to remember be a combination of random letters and numbers? Just like a password.
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### Author:  [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/51 "2019-05-18T01:55:08Z")
A few years ago, I saw two identical late-model sports cars blow past me in a residential area. Same model and color. They each had license plates with nothing but ones and zeros or maybe I’s and O’s, looking like this: “10110101”. I immediately thought, “preplanned alibi machines!” I couldn’t see their drivers but it wouldn’t surprise me if they’d been identical twins.
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### Author:  [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2019, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/52 "2019-05-18T08:44:25Z")
> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> License plates in the UK started with ‘A1’ in 1904 (registered to Earl [a real Earl not some cowboy called Earl] Russell who camped out all night to secure it.) Of course, it didn’t take all that long to need three each, letters and numbers and different letter groups were assigned to different counties.
>
> There were several changes along the way, including the idea that a plate is issued to a vehicle for its life and then scrapped. This did not stop vanity (or cherished) plates because it is still possible to pay to use an existing number so long as it is available. Thus, a well-known comedian has the licence plate COM 1 C on his Bentley.
>
> The current system of two letters, two numbers and three letters has been around since the early part of the century (The letters I, O, U and Z are not used). If you know the system, it tells you the year of registration (mine is 15 = 2015) and the place of registration. If you are unfortunate enough to be run over by one, you only really need to remember the last three letters which reduces the number of candidates to a manageable number.
If you are lucky enough to be run over by the Queen it makes remembering the registration plate even easier to remember.
There isn’t one.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2019, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/53 "2019-05-18T08:58:51Z")
When I lived in California, I had a car with MUSICAT on the plate. I was stopped in a parking lot once by someone who said she just saw another car with _exactly_ the same plate on it, and wondered how that could be. When she described the other car, I recognized it as my second car, driven by my girlfriend. All the observer had remembered was the sound of the word, not the spelling.
Its plate was MUSIKAT.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/54 "2019-05-18T11:48:35Z")
Take the first X bits of [Chaitin’s constant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitin's_constant) and map them into a valid license plate number for whatever state you’re in.
“Random” in an algorithmic sort of way. No Turing machine can generate it. Since the human mind is clearly (!) a Turning machine, not easy to reproduce.
In fact, just producing the necessary bits to form a license plate is overwhelmingly hard. So, it’s got that going for it. 😉
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### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/55 "2019-05-19T14:32:10Z")
Re the list of [plates not permitted in New York](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/new-yorks-lascivious-license-plates?page=1): Can anyone explain the reason for not issuing the FCJ, JSC, MPBA and similar sequences?
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### Author:  [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/56 "2023-11-14T16:30:17Z")
I’m sure that’s true here in Virginia. I wanted PHSIII and no combination of ones and eyes was available. There aren’t THAT many of us! And punctuation is also ignored: ABC-123 and AB-C123 et sim. are all conflated.
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### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/57 "2023-11-14T17:41:07Z")
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#):
>
> BELEZ
>
> Then get a license plate frame that cuts off the bottom of your plate, turning Es into Fs, Ls into Is, Bs into Rs, and Zs into 7s.
>
> Witnesses would see RFIF7.
>
> Take the frame off after each caper.
There was a NYTimes article a while ago on license plate “fixers”. It seems since NYC has automated red light cameras everywhere, a number of people have taken to doing things to obscure their plates, like folding over one side or scraping off the paint to hide some letters, or for example turn E into F. There’s a loose organization of cyclist who carry pliers and sharpies, and when they see a compromised plate will bend it back or fill in the missing paint with a sharpie.
Oddly, the article mentions many of the plate offenders are the personal vehicles of NYC police officers.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/58 "2023-11-14T17:45:38Z")
What about tricking someone by transposing two letters?
RABBTIS
ULGIEST
ABADNON
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2023, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/59 "2023-11-14T17:49:18Z")
“Could you read the license plate?”
“It was BLANK.”
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-difficult-liscense-plate-to-remember/168935/60 "2023-11-14T17:50:53Z")
> [@md-2000](#):
>
> It seems since NYC has automated red light cameras everywhere, a number of people have taken to doing things to obscure their plates, like folding over one side or scraping off the paint to hide some letters, or for example turn E into F.
There was an Adam-12 episode where a criminal did that by covering parts of letters with blue tape.
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