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Vanity Licence Plates


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I hate taking a quiz in 8 letters, 7 here in Pennsylvania.

 

This intolerance of mine started when I saw the license plate TNKRBL, and gamely guessed "Tank Rubble? What's a Tank Rubble?" to the guy with me. He corrected me, saying it was obviously Tinkerbell. Once we got alongside the car, a 1980s Firebird btw, and saw the 300 pound darling in the driver's seat, I was convinced my guess was closer to the mark, based both on the car and the driver.

 

Since that time I have wondered ceaselessy, much to the chagrine of my family members, what would cause people to get these plates unless the following two were true:

1) the word(s)/phrase/sentence is immediately clear to anyone, and

2) the MEANING is immediately clear to anyone.

 

This means that plates such as CAVEAT and BACKOFF are well received by me, but HSY BEAR (even though I know the owner and know that he is a Hershey Bear hockey fan, not a "Hizzy Bear" fan) or 2ONES (again, someone I know--and I am still not totally sure of the meaning) are not, since I have to either spend too much precious brain power trying to figure out what it says, or if I have figured it out, I wonder what it means. And your initials on a tag just get me to make up names for you based on those initials.

 

So if your tag says ILKCACHE I will wonder what Ilk Cache is, if it is TNLN I may not be in on the joke and will spend time wondering what "Tin Lin" means.

 

Just my little take on vanity plates. If it made you laugh or think a bit, that is great.

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I hate taking a quiz in 8 letters, 7 here in Pennsylvania.

 

This intolerance of mine started when I saw the license plate TNKRBL, and gamely guessed "Tank Rubble? What's a Tank Rubble?" to the guy with me. He corrected me, saying it was obviously Tinkerbell. Once we got alongside the car, a 1980s Firebird btw, and saw the 300 pound darling in the driver's seat, I was convinced my guess was closer to the mark, based both on the car and the driver.

 

Since that time I have wondered ceaselessy, much to the chagrine of my family members, what would cause people to get these plates unless the following two were true:

1) the word(s)/phrase/sentence is immediately clear to anyone, and

2) the MEANING is immediately clear to anyone.

 

This means that plates such as CAVEAT and BACKOFF are well received by me, but HSY BEAR (even though I know the owner and know that he is a Hershey Bear hockey fan, not a "Hizzy Bear" fan) or 2ONES (again, someone I know--and I am still not totally sure of the meaning) are not, since I have to either spend too much precious brain power trying to figure out what it says, or if I have figured it out, I wonder what it means. And your initials on a tag just get me to make up names for you based on those initials.

 

So if your tag says ILKCACHE I will wonder what Ilk Cache is, if it is TNLN I may not be in on the joke and will spend time wondering what "Tin Lin" means.

 

Just my little take on vanity plates. If it made you laugh or think a bit, that is great.

One of the reasons that I felt comfortable using TFTH, was that it was pointed out that it was very easily googleable. If the person remembers and punches it in, the meaning pops up right away.

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I guess maybe part of the mystique for some is that the meaning may only be recognizable to a few who are "in the know".

 

I have Amateur (HAM) Radio plates on my cars, and for the most part, I'm sure only other fellow Hams pick up any meaning from them. The general public has no clue what VE2CZ might mean.

 

I tend to keep my caching addiction quiet, and I don't mind if what's on my plate is obscure to others!

 

FOUND IT

FIND IT

LOOKING

CANTFIND

NOSIGNAL

LOG IT

LOGGEDIT

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CharlieZulu, I have seen Ham tags and recognize them, or at least I think I recognize them--they are getting more and more rare. You may be surprised but they fall into my category of "understandable" vanity tags in that they have value beyond pure vanity. Putting your call sign on your tag gives another Ham enough information to talk to you later if he or she desires.

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....

I tend to keep my caching addiction quiet, and I don't mind if what's on my plate is obscure to others!

 

... (snip) ...

LOOKING

... (snip) ...

 

You might want to think twice before getting a vanity plate that says "LOOKING". :laughing: Could find yourself the receipient of some unwelcome attention ... from either gender!! B):D

 

:mad:

 

I like this thread though. Some really great ideas for plates! B)

 

Cheers!

 

Western Mass Clan (Dad)

Edited by Western_Mass_Clan
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I think I made an operator error...I replied once already, but I can't find it!

 

I like the idea of a TB number on the plate. Buy an actual TB tag, and activate it. Put that number on your plate, and then a cacher that sees you can "Discover" you. It would be kind of fun to see if anyone notices. Of course, at events you will be fair game!

 

As an alternative, you could buy a trackable coin from your state and put that number on the plates.

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