[lupinsea]

Speaking of vanity plates . . . this in the Seattle Times.

Originally Posted by Seattle Times

State law gives the agency authority to determine what is and isn’t offensive in a personalized plate. But even if the DOL approves a plate, anyone who spots a plate on the road and takes offense can make a complaint. Then, the agency investigates.

There are plenty of terms that can offend.

The agency has compiled a list of 654 “DO NOT ISSUE” terms for vanity plates since the state began issuing them in 1975.

Using everything from Google searches that include foreign-language and slang dictionaries, to asking translators to explain what something means in Russian, the committee decides what crosses the offensive line.

Think high-school humor: GETSOM, LUVBED, JUMPME, HUMPER, INHEAT, NYMPHO, OLDFART, IRSUCKS, GONAD, WANTSEX, GSPOT, BLUBALS, ZIGZAG, GO2HELL, BITEIT, MRPOOP.

The committee, made up of six people ranging from a State Patrol representative to a DOL administrator, is the last resort of appeal for questionable plates, and it’s where complaints from the public about a specific plate usually end up.

Originally Posted by Seattle Times

And so the case of GOES211 ended up before something called the DOL’s Personalized License Plate Committee. Bureaucracies like committees, and lists.

Last October, Dixon emailed the Department of Licensing: “I find it in poor taste that the great state of Washington would issue a plate that allows a driver to insinuate in public that his penis grows to 11 inches in length. The rest of the citizens of Washington should not be subjected to this vulgarity.”

When Tony Cava got a letter from the state about somebody complaining that his personalized license plate came across as “vulgar, profane or offensive to good taste and decency,” he was, well, “pretty befuddled.”

The plate on his white 1989 BMW says, “GOES211.”

He thought, what’s so vulgar about that?

Cava, 53, is a fan of “This is Spinal Tap,” the 1984 mockumentary about a fictional heavy metal group. The license plate is an homage to the classic scene in which band member Nigel explains that while other amps go to 10 on the volume control, theirs goes to 11, “if we need that extra push over the cliff.”

In the case of GOES211, the committee let Cava keep his plate.

“The complaint was, pardon my pun, a stretch,” says Brad Benfield, a DOL spokesman who’s served 10 years on the committee.

Good to see they at least have a sense of humor on the committee.

Originally Posted by Seattle Times

Then there was the case of Fred Talbot, a Sammamish account manager who likes to hunt.

In 2010, he was denied the license plate “ELKNUT” for his Dodge Ram pickup.

He remembers the DOL calling him: “The lady said people might think you’re referring to an elk’s testicles,” Talbot recalls. “I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding! This is silly!’”

Talbot wrote the committee: “This is a very well known name in elk hunting circles as it is the name of an Internet company called Elknut Productions which sells products to help elk hunters ... I did not ask for ‘ELKNUTS’ or ‘ELKSNUT,’ yes, even I would agree that might be taken the wrong way.”

The agency then found that it had issued 60 personalized plates with “NUT” as the last three characters — DUKNUT, PIGNUT, HOGNUT.

So the committee allowed Talbot his personalized plate