Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Board monitors plates' language
The Personalized Plate Review Board picks and pans how Florida drivers express themselves.
Associated Press
Published February 13, 2006
FORT LAUDERDALE - Some Floridians have a naughty streak, and they want the world, or at least everyone driving behind them, to see how clever they are.
But five people meet once a month in Tallahassee to stop those with their minds in the gutter from taking to the roads with a nasty nickname or a rude message on their personalized license plates.
The Personalized Plate Review Board often decides which messages pass muster and which get kicked to the curb.
H8 HYTES and BNUDE have made it through, while HOT COP and GOT GUN did not.
The board rejected more than 130 proposed license plates in 2005 for being "objectionable," but more than 100,000 personalized license plates were issued.
HELL and HWY 2 L were okay. But exclamations like HEL YA and HL YEAH were not.
Other intimidating plates such as SNIPER 1, BITE ME, RUN OVRU and D-KILLER appear on the reject list, among many too objectionable to print.
For an extra $12, residents can get personalized plates, but they can't combine letters or numbers to form anything objectionable or obscene.
Obscene is defined in the state policy as "offensive to morality or decency, indecent, lewd, abominable, disgusting, a slur, profanity or description of body parts."
But some body parts have been deemed harmless enough to have on license plates, such as KIX BUTT.
Statewide, drivers frequently try to sneak variations of the word "pimp" into their license plates. Whether it makes it through depends on whether it sounds like it has something to do with the illegal occupation, or if it's simply used as popular slang, such as one plate, PIM-N.
It helps to have someone familiar with slang or foreign languages on the board, such as Frank Penela, who often helps with pop culture references.
"I had to explain that to the board," said Penela, spokesman for the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "This has now become a common word used for what is in, cool, hip. It has become part of our lexicon."
Other parts of the American lexicon, however, are unacceptable.
No matter how creative someone is at trying to get the "F" word in, it's never going to make it, Penela said. Some try to slip in curse words in other languages. Unfortunately for them, Penela speaks Spanish, Italian and German.
"They try to get the big F on there," he said. "Needless to say, we're not going to allow that."
But Boynton Beach resident Jeryl Rodriguez said she often sees license plates with suggestive messages that she would prefer be banned.
"We live in a perverted society; nobody seems to have any morals," said Rodriguez, whose license plate sports her first name.
[Last modified February 13, 2006, 00:44:05]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
