My good friend Andrea Wright of Wright photography here on the Island has a rather cool and unusual hobby. She enjoys capturing in her travels photos of these personalized plates in her travels. She has collected quite a few funny and interesting and brain teasing plates that will actually make you think and ponder how did that person come up with that?
What is a “Vain Plate,” you ask?
Let me enlighten you here for a moment.
A vain plate, also known as vanity plate, personalized plate, prestige plate, private number plate, cherished plate, personalized registration, personalized plate, custom plate is a special type of vehicle registration plate on an automobile or other vehicle.
The owner of the vehicle pays extra money to have their own choice of numbers or letters, usually portraying a recognizable phrase, slogan, or abbreviation on their plate.
According to Wiki: “The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and Stefan Lonce, author of License to Roam: Vanity License Plates and the Stories They Tell, conducted North America’s first state by state and province by province survey of vanity plates, revealing that there are 9.7 million vehicles with personalized vanity license plates. The survey ranked jurisdictions by “vanity plate penetration rate”, which is the percentage of registered motor vehicles that are vanitized. Virginia has the highest U.S. vanity plate penetration rate (16.19%), followed by New Hampshire (13.99%), Illinois (13.41%), Nevada (12.73%), Montana (9.8%), Maine (9.7%), Connecticut (8.14%), New Jersey (6.8%), North Dakota (6.5%) and Vermont (6.1%). Texas had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (0.5%).[2] Virginia’s high rate of vanity plates, in particular, was attributed to the low cost per annum compared to a standard plate: the state charges $10 more for vanity plates than for state-issued plates, compared to $50 more in Maryland and $100 more in Washington, D.C..[3] According to the Federal Highway Administration, in 2005 there were 242,991,747 privately owned and commercial registered automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles in the U.S., and 3.83% of eligible U.S. vehicles have vanity plates.” (This of course was in 2007. I am sure it has increased since then.)
With that being said, boys and girls, let us do a little test to see how well your knowledge of history, adventure and imagination is with these “vain plates.”
These are actual plates owners had come up with. Can you figure out what the real meaning behind these little quirks that represent for each state?
Should only take about 30 minutes or less.
Sorry, answers are not included. You are on your own with this one. If it makes you feel any better…took me over 40 minutes.
Enjoy.
Alabama: HI TIDE
Alaska: LOOK UP
Arizona: PB4UGO
Arkansas: XHAUSTD
California: TRY WINE
Colorado: UPNSMK
Connecticut: EX CONN
Delaware: SPOILED
Florida: LVIN EZ
Georgia: ONMYMND
Hawaii: OUWISH
Idaho: ICE CRM
Illinois: DP DISH
Indiana: G UR SLO
Iowa: CORNDOG
Kansas: NOT OZ
Kentucky: ABEHERE
Louisiana: FREEBDS
Maine: LOBSTAH
Maryland: ASK4M
Massachusetts: DUNKIN1
Michigan: GR8LAKE
Minnesota: 2COLD4ME
Mississippi: SPELLIT
Missouri: SHOWME
Montana: GDDYUP
Nebraska: CRNFLDS
Nevada: UBETURA
New Hampshire: NOSLSTX
New Jersey: OMFGMOV
New Mexico: USAF51
New York: IH8PPL
North Carolina: PIG IT
North Dakota: BOOM
Ohio: I SAW 1
Oklahoma: ILUV66
Oregon: OH DEER
Pennsylvania: CHZSTK
Rhode Island: 2 SMALL
South Carolina: KSMYGRT
South Dakota: 3UR3KA
Tennessee: JACK D
Texas: BRISK3T
Utah: ATVING
Vermont: MPLSRP
Virginia: REEL ME N
Washington: GOTBAIL
West Virginia: MMMBACN
Wisconsin: CHZ HED
Wyoming: LIV2SKI
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Email: IvyEasterly@LifesABeachSPI.com