# Vanity plate or happenstance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462 "2017-01-18T12:39:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/1 "2017-01-18T12:39:58Z")
Yesterday I saw a license plate that read 5EX T09. My gut reaction was “sex toy”. Is 9 considered a Y in leetspeak? Or do I just have a dirty mind? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/2 "2017-01-18T13:03:25Z")
I think you just have a dirty mind. It’s seems like something that could very well be happenstance, and this list at least does not have 9 among the options for y: [Leet Speak Cheat Sheet - GameHouse](http://www.gamehouse.com/blog/leet-speak-cheat-sheet/) That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be deliberate. I just wouldn’t put my money on that option. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/3 "2017-01-18T13:44:52Z")
Could it be ‘sex tonight’? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/4 "2017-01-18T14:00:30Z")
I’d bet that SEX is an omitted sequence in standard issue plates, so it’s almost certainly a vanity plate. Makes no immediate sense to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/5 "2017-01-18T14:00:39Z")
Sex Top, you’re a Sex Top (sung to the tune of “Sex Bomb”) My vote goes for you having a dirty mind. Would help to know where this plate was seen, so that we can compare your plate to the numbering format in use in that state. Reminds me of the time my mother saw a plate in Rhode Island that was “IQ-87” and my mother’s response was “that’s an odd thing to be bragging about.” In reality, RI’s numbering format was usually AB-## or AB-###. ---
**Author:** ![Brodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Brodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brodi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/6 "2017-01-18T14:09:37Z")
It could very well just be happenstance like other posters mentioned. My mom had surgery on her big toe several years ago and at the same time got new plates for her car. What did the seemingly random mix of letters and number say? TOE1 :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/7 "2017-01-18T15:12:59Z")
What are your state’s license patterns? Is DLL LDD (or DLL LLD) a standard pattern? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/8 "2017-01-18T15:27:36Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Could it be ‘sex tonight’? Sex-to-nine? (Six-ty-nine - squeezing past the prohibition on those numbers or words on plates in most places, unless it’s a 1969 vehicle.) ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/9 "2017-01-18T16:09:44Z")
I’m in Maryland and a relative newcomer. I understand the plate sequences have had changes over the years. It was on a plate that is pre 2010 style. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/10 "2017-01-18T17:59:32Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Could it be ‘sex tonight’? I’m with quartz, this makes the most sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vanity-plate-or-happenstance/777462/11 "2017-01-18T18:29:53Z")
Here is a pre-2010 Maryland plate, that uses the nAB-Cnn configuration, so presumable 5EX (that’s a five, not an ess) would occur in the sequential distributeion of plates. Unless someone made the administrative decision to skip 5EX for that obvious reason. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9c/71/84/9c71848db2daa1d871be6141783a5d05.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9c/71/84/9c71848db2daa1d871be6141783a5d05.jpg) So one would need to know if the state skipped those numbers or not, to determine whether such a number would come up. However, the state also manually reviews all requests for vanity plate numbers, and would have refused to issue that number if it were requested. So my bet is naturally occurrence, along with a 2600 other plates in the five-EX series. In order to obviate any such developments, Texas uses no vowels at all in plate numbers.