# What does your non-vanity license plate mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360 "2003-04-08T18:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/21 "2003-04-09T11:17:06Z")
My mom’s old car: KSU 161. It was always ‘Kiss you’… My dad’s old car: NWD 034. I never thought of an acronym, but the combination always seemed suitably masculine… dark colours and all that. Now the generic Ontario plates are four letters, three numbers. _Lots_ of possibilities… **Marlitharn** , it’s a good thing I live in Canada, eh? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/22 "2003-04-09T11:41:03Z")
00-D-12345 - Bought in ' **00** - in **D** ublin - and the sequential number of cars bought in Dublin that year. Boring, eh? However, my first rustbucket, that I bought for £30, was RFC 123 P which stood for **R** atty **F** uckin’ **C** ar. ---
**Author:** ![Maxxxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Maxxxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maxxxie)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/23 "2003-04-09T13:11:51Z")
169-FUR. I 69 fur. Hee hee hee hee 🙂 What can I say, whoever gave me this license plate could obviously spot a dyke at 100 paces! Max 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/24 "2003-04-09T13:19:13Z")
Well, our system is even more boring than the Irish one. My plate reads PR-SF-## (numbers erased to protect the somewhat guilty of speeding). What the hell can you make of that? Pretty Rude Science Fiction? Then there’s my motorbike. MT-##-VX (again, the ##'s stand for numbers). Another boring one: what to make of that? And to top it all off, there are no vanity plates in the Netherlands. Too bad, I wouldn’t mind **COLDFR** as a license plate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/25 "2003-04-09T15:53:05Z")
Ours has the year I was born, as written by a dyslexic. Of course, I’m a little dyslexic so I mentally reversed the middle numbers when we picked up the plate from the DMV. I remarked to the clerk, “Hey, that’s the year I was born…almost.” 🙂 Oh, and those numbers are preceded by two letters: VR. ---
**Author:** ![TruePisces](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/truepisces/32/13628_2.png) [@TruePisces](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruePisces)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/26 "2003-04-09T16:00:40Z")
I only remember the last plate I had while I was in Florida - 098 FCU. I remembered the letters as **F** lorida **C** olleges and **U** niversities. Granted, I had nothing to do with any Florida Colleges OR Universities at the time, but it was an easy way to remember it. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/27 "2003-04-09T16:03:45Z")
Mine is funny: Y 11-02. 11/2 is the day I first started knowing the guy I ended up marrying. So it’s like a question, why 11/02? It’s also got some japanese on it, but I have no idea what it says. ---
**Author:** ![Cyrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Cyrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyrin)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/28 "2003-04-09T16:07:52Z")
Old Plate was: **521 TMX** 12:55 Timex New one is: **AMLY 215** I don’t have a good one for this one yet… too new… any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Lilacs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/29 "2003-04-09T16:14:52Z")
I don’t remember my numbers, but the letters can’t be forgotten. PPN. Pee-pee’n…ah yes. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/30 "2003-04-09T16:17:42Z")
T34 KGB. It’s good for Russian around. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/31 "2003-04-09T17:10:26Z")
My Idaho plate was my street address from when I was a child. The DMV for my county was a single woman in the basement of the county assessor’s office. When I went to pick up the plate she reached behind her into a box of plates. I said, “Do you mind if I browse through those?” She said it wouldn’t make her no nevermind so I found the plate 4069. It was a sort of regulation-vanity plate. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/32 "2003-04-10T05:26:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > **Marlitharn that’s not available online to regular shmucks, is it?** Nope. Only to certified dispatcher schmucks like myself. The last three of my plate is RRF, which my phonetically alphabetized brain insists on thinking of as Robert Robert Frank, but I think I like Ruh-Roh, Fred better. psst, **Sunspace** …if I really really want to, I can get Canadian plates…it just takes a few days…sleep well (giggle)… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/33 "2003-04-16T00:51:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Çyrin \* > \*\*Old Plate was: > > **521 TMX** > > 12:55 Timex > > New one is: > > **AMLY 215** > > I don’t have a good one for this one yet… too new… any suggestions? \*\* I wanted to reply to this earlier but it timed-out and then I forgot about it. Anyway, what I was going to suggest is name the car Emily. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpidyReb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@SpidyReb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpidyReb)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/34 "2003-04-16T01:40:24Z")
I bought my first new car about two years ago. I nearly choked before I could get out of the tag office. My first three letters are FCD. To make matters worse it’s a Ford Focus. Yes I drive the F\*\*KED Focus 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/35 "2003-04-16T01:47:28Z")
When we moved to Louisiana and registered our cars in Jefferson Parish, they had the **nerve** to charge us sales tax for the difference between where we’d bought the cars and the exorbitant sales tax here (_why_ don’t these people have decent property taxes so we don’t pay these ridiculous sales taxes???). Anyway, I digress. It made it very easy to remember our license plates: JTZ \*\*\*, aka Jefferson Tax Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/36 "2003-04-16T18:51:35Z")
I wouldnt mind **Ludovic** as a vanity tag. If I had a PT Cruiser, I’d get **Outatime** (anyone get that reference?) I used to have a tag (i forget the first 3 characters,) that read X0X VAS. (As in vas deferens, easy to remember.) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/37 "2003-04-16T19:06:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ludovic \* > **If I had a PT Cruiser, I’d get Outatime (anyone get that reference?)** Having that on a DeLorean would make sense but why a PT Cruiser? Does it have to do with the name or the look? ---
**Author:** ![Cyrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Cyrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyrin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/38 "2003-04-16T19:38:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*I wanted to reply to this earlier but it timed-out and then I forgot about it. Anyway, what I was going to suggest is name the car Emily. 🙂 \*\* Emily. Hmmm, no. Actually, Emily is about the only word that comes to mind when I read the licence plate… then I look at the car and I could never call it Emily. [ul] 1. I have an ex named Emily 2. It’s a Black Sunfire GT. 3. It has a picture of Homer screaming in the back window 4.It says “Your Mom Drives a Volkswagon” on the rear windshield. [/ul] Not really “Emily” Material… ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/39 "2003-04-16T20:21:23Z")
BPD \*\*\* Burnsville Police Department? It’s a suburb of the Twin Cities near the suburb in which I live. Now that I’ve put you all to sleep, sweet dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360/40 "2003-04-16T21:01:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*Having that on a DeLorean would make sense but why a PT Cruiser? Does it have to do with the name or the look? \*\* The look. It’s the cheapest car that has a vague Noir feel. The reference is to Elvis Costellos “A Man Out of Time.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-non-vanity-license-plate-mean/167360.md?page=3)