Write Well Me

2 License Plates for the Price of 1

I haven't done license plates in a while because, well, there just haven't been any really good ones worth taking the time to blog about.

But that all changed Sunday. (And thanks to running partner Dawn B for pointing out the connection!)

The first license plate:

JO KNEE

Nothing spectacular, right?

The car in front of JO KNEE has the following license plate:

YANKLE

Dawn B had to say it out loud for me: "Jo knee and y'ankle..." We guess that they must be orthopaedists.

Taken together, those  might be the best license plates ever!

License Plate - Only One

Yes, it's only one, but it's a great one.  :)  (Thanks to Laura for sending it to me.)

Let's set the scene...

Red corvette

Driven by a woman

License plate says.... wait for it...

F THE X

License Plates and a River

I swear Virginia has the best license plates.  I don't know if they make it inexpensive to get a vanity plate or if it's because that extra letter (one more than Maryland) inspires more creativity.

I saw plenty of vanity plates on my recent drive to Virginia Beach and back for Laura West's Business Goddess Marketing Breakthrough Experience workshop, but since I was driving, I couldn't write them down. ("I'm a good driver, good driver.")  Here are two good ones:

• 26PT2 - I'm only doing 13.1 miles in a 1/2 marathon, but I still thought it was a cool nod to runners.
• ZAT YOU - I like the fun and playful nature of this one.
• BUGBYT - Only one guess as to what kind of car this one was.

And because I'm so drawn to words and language, I got a particular kick out of the Chickahominy River, otherwise known as "The Chick." I just like saying it.  :)

More License Plates

Along with everything else I'm known for (being short, having curly hair, my perky personality), people also think of me as the license plate girl, and they keep giving me many gems.

KLVUBBY - This was an old vanity license plate of my neighbor girlfriend (coincidentally, another short Dawn).  It's a tough one, and I have to say it all the way through in my head; it doesn't automatically come to me.  One hint: it's from Animaniacs.

WTF NOW - I actually saw this one with my own eyes while we were celebrating Damascus Days this weekend.  I have no idea how in the world it passed Virginia's MVA.  Maybe it doesn't mean what I think it means.  And if it does indeed mean what I think it means, what's with the "now"?

Creative License Plates

RKITTY2 - It was a Jaguar, and I thought "kitty" was a pretty cute way to refer to their car.  Well, obviously their SECOND Jaguar. 

YPEEKYA - Guess what state I was in when I saw this license plate?  Yep, Texas.  It was either a cowboy thing or a fond reference to Die Hard.

License Plates - what they teach me about seeing words

NOTKENS

What do you see?

At first, I thought it was "no tokens."  Someone really passionate against the proposed slots bill here in Maryland.

But then I realized it was probably "Not Ken's."  (I figured it was Ken's wife's car, but Ken was driving.  Well, I did see this at the gas station, so maybe Ken was just being nice and getting gas in his wife's car.)

It's a bit like that exercise - what two words do you see in "NOWHERE"?

Either "no where" or "now here."

What I found interesting about this was how my brain broke up the string of words.  I saw "no" before I saw "not."

License Plates

It's time again for words on cars!

In my recent eight-hour-round-trip travels to Virginia Beach and back, I had ample fodder for a post on license plates. Virginia cars always seem to have more vanity plates than Maryland ones. I wonder if it's cheaper to get a customized plate in VA than in MD.

Here you go for your word pleasure:

• WZA TCHR: I just hope she didn't teach English.
• CAR-VETTE: Very cute, and it almost won the prize for most creative until...
• SA-WEET: I'd do this one in a heartbeat.  (And since when do you get to use hyphens on license plates? I don't think we can do that in Maryland.)
• TRST 1ST: At first, I thought "TRST" stood for "TRYST."  There's someone with a secret. Then I figured out it was probably "TRUST FIRST." Oh well. So much for the fun of trysting. 
• NAPTURAL: I'm not completely certain what this means, but if it means the person is a natural nap-taker, I'm all for it.
• 4MYWYFEY: I particularly liked the "Y" and "EY" in "WYFEY." Very cute.
• IMAGOIN: Since I know a couple of Imago therapists, I thought that this might refer to some sort of Imago verb.  Then, I figured out it was probably "I'm a goin'" - I don't think my brain likes to try to decipher four words out of one long string.
• STR8T UP:  Not hugely clever, but I need something to do in my last hour of driving.
• And from Antonette - she needs help figuring this one out:  4MYXTAQ.  I can get the "For my..." The question is for my what?  My ex-something? My extra something?  Any clues?

License Plates - Words on Cars

From Toni Jo in Las Vegas:

• KYDTKAT - Kitty cat
• HVNCNWT - Heaven can wait - who knew you could fit so much seven letters!
• SOLESVR - Toni Jo thought it might be Soul Survivor or Soul Saver.  Thoughts?

From Mike in Texas:

• 70 NEMO - Mike says this was restored car; he's guessing from 1970.  But NEMO?  Any car experts out there?

And now from me in Maryland:

• MR MR - Surely, they don't mean the music group, do they? Unless they're huge fans.

So happy to have my license plate club out there looking out for good plates.  You, too, can submit license plates from your state and let the rest of us analyze them.

License Plates - A Summary

We're overdue for license plates.  (Hey, there's a license plate for ya:  OVERDUE - and it works perfectly for a car.  I'm so brilliant!)

• FEELGUD - Doesn't take much to figure this one out, but I like it.
• HOKY MA - If I hadn't seen the license plate frame, I'm not sure when I would have figured it out.  Even today, it looks like HOE-KEY to me, as in "That's a hoky story.  I don't believe it."  What was the license plate frame?  Washington Capitals.  Ah.  Hockey!
• And from Mike (he's always good about scoping out license plates for me.  Thank you, Mike.  :)  LES GAS.  "Guess what kind of car it was?  That's right, a Prius."
• "This one's a puzzler: JME4T.  My first thought was J Meat - a nickname perhaps?  Then I thought 'Jimmy 40.'  Maybe Jimmy got a car for his 40th birthday."  Have to admit that I wouldn't have figured out the 4T=40.  I see a "4," and I see a "T."  Oh well.  Visual Dawn strikes again.

Final Road Words and Images from Vacation

When you have sixteen hours in the car, you have plenty of time to look around you. 

Along with noting songs that I wanted to add to iTunes when I got home (and I'm not going to list them here because every last one of you will make fun of me for my 80s music needs), I had fun with even more license plates.

TADAAA2 - I like the idea of "tadaaaaa," but why 2?  I guess it could be the second vehicle for a family who really likes "tadaaaa" or a company with that name. 

HLF TRK2 - Why just half of a truck?  From what I can remember, it wasn't a particularly small or large truck.  And again, there's that 2.

FANSTA - Not sure what this was supposed to signify, but it led me down the road to GANGSTA (I don't think we'll be seeing that on a license plate) and then HAMSTA.  I dare someone to get a vanity license plate with "HAMSTA" on it. 

JOURNAL - lucky duck, whoever owns this one.  Granted, maybe it's someone who works for the Journal newspaper, although I like the idea of someone who's just really passionate about journaling.

And finally, this picture.  I'd never actually seen an inmate transport before.  It immediately brought to mind Fugitive and Conair.  Luckily, there wasn't a train, plane, or one-armed man in sight.

Words and Grammar, Even on Vacation

We're on our way to Florida, and even on vacation certain things still capture my attention. 

First, we stopped for lunch somewhere in Virginia.  It wasn't a metropolitan area (we were twenty miles or so from some town called Troutville), but I was happy to see that a love for grammar (or at least properly spelled words) prevails everywhere.

We also came across the following license plates along on our drive:

BBISLIF - we're assuming that either baseball or basketball is life.  I wonder, purely from a semantic point of view, how we're supposed to infer which sport "BB" stands for.  Is it one over the other?  You sports nuts out there:  when you see "BB," do you think baseball or basketball?  And why?

TRUE FUN - appropriate for the convertible that was sporting it.  Also appropriate for us on vacation.

HIKN UPD - All right, I get that this is hiking up something, but hiking up "D"?  Help!  Is it supposed to be "hikin' up d' ____" as in "I'll hike up d' mountain, up d' trail, up d' anything"?

Finally, when we crossed over into Alabama and soon after into the central time zone, I was watching my cell phone carefully.  I wanted to see if it would immediately go from 12:24 to 11:24.  I watched and watched, and it never happened.  Soon we stopped for lunch.  By the time we got back in the car, I remembered about the time.  I checked the phone, and sure enough, when I wasn't watching, it sneaked into central time.  Rats!

More License Plates Help, Please

Now that I have a whole category devoted to license plates, people from all over send me their favorites - or those that have them stumped.  Wanna help?

First, from Word Lily:

TKCTK

Now, from M in Texas:

This one baffles me: AU STKR. Is this person admitting they are a stalker of some sort? Or perhaps they played soccer at Auburn University (AU Striker)? AU is the chemical symbol for gold, so maybe Gold Stacker? I'm really at a loss.

Finally, this little treat to make you laugh.

Appropriate

JUSBCUZ

License Plates from a Friend

This from M in Texas:

MAXIMA – this was on a Nissan Maxima.  Might be the most uninventive plate ever.  Unless the owner has several different cars and uses the license plate to tell them apart (MAXIMA, ACCORD, CAMRY, etc.).

BLZNRD – Blaze Nerd?  Blazing Research & Development?  Blazing Rod?  Probably Blazing Ride, which just came to me as I wrote this.  Although I think it was on a Honda Civic.  Maybe the owner was being ironical.

One thing I've appreciated about M since we met in college is his sardonic wit.   Anyone who can make me laugh rates very high on my list.  :)

Words You Won't See on a Corvette

Driving home from Washington D.C. yesterday, we saw a beautiful, new, shiny black Corvette.  The license plate simply said:

GO

Now, that's either obvious or a taunt.  A shiny black Corvette with a "GO" license plate doesn't drive 55.  That got us to thinking about license plates we would never see on a Corvette.

SIT
STAY
SLOW

If I had a Corvette, my license plate would read (if I was brave enough):

CATCHME

More Purple License Plates

I'm not the only one who loves purple, especially on license plates.  But I don't get this one:

FA-PURPL

It's a purple something.  Trouble is, I don't know what is supposed to be purple.

And then there's this one:

YRNOSAM

I get that I'm no Sam.  I'm Dawn.  What's so special about Sam anyway?

Submitting License Plates

Antonette submitted her own license plates for our review.

GRSUJES
IMIURU

I get IMIURU.  It's similar to UBUIBME.  But, Antonette, I'm having trouble with GRSUJES.

(Here's a secret about me:  as good a writer as I might be, and as good a vocabulary I might have, I'm horrible at crosswords and word games like Scrabble.)

Nod to Jabberwocky

I saw this license plate today:

SNORGS

I'm sure "SNORGS" means something to the driver.  However, since I don't know what that might be, I'll just bask in the fun of how it looks and sounds.

If you know what "SNORGS" refers to, by all means let us know.  I'm hoping it doesn't take the joy out of it.

I Need a Little Help With These License Plates, Please

I'm back home in Maryland, and a couple of license plates have me scratching my head.  Your help is greatly appreciated!

PRPLRN

Prep and Learn?

Or Purple Nurse?  Frankly, as much as I love purple, purple nurses rule.  But it doesn't make much sense.  And maybe it's not even Purple Nurse.

RIP NYC

Maybe it's supposed to be a sympathetic nod to New York City after September 11, or maybe it's supposed to be a plea for peace.  For me, though, the connotation is that New York City is dead, and that's just morbid.

Anyone want to weigh in?

Chicago License Plates

When I visited Chicago (Waukegan, north of Chicago, actually), I scanned license plates, trying to determine if people from Illinois were more or less creative than those from Maryland.

I've seen some pretty good ones, so I wasn't sure how Illinois would match up.

Here's my favorite Illinois license plate:

CKUR

(Seeker, get it?)

Then, there was this one:

GOT MAC 7

I thought that person might have been really behind in Mac operating systems releases (can we say, "Leopard," people?), but maybe not.

Then, I thought it might have been a computer support services company, but a quick search didn't reveal a Mac computer support business by that name.  There's a PC & Mac Solutions firm that uses the URL www.GotMac.com, but they're based out of California.

I guess it will always be a mystery.

License Plates - Part II

Here's the next installments of the license plates saga.

I saw this one driving down the road, and I hope someone out there can clue me in to what it means.

MSTBABA

I figured it could be for a woman whose first name begins with "t." ("You can call me Ms. T. Baba.")

Misty Baba?  Master Baba?  A master's degree and two bachelor's degrees?

Words on Cars

I enjoy trying to figure out the meaning of other lucky car owners' vanity plates.  I don't mean SALLY or ABF CDF (a cute couple).  I mean the ones where there's some creativity and wit.  My love affair with words extends even to cars.  Since I scan license plates everywhere I go, I figured it called for a category of its own. Introducing Write Well Me's License Plate category!

I've always wanted a vanity license plate.  Now that Write Well U is off the ground, it makes sense that my license plate riff off my company.  The problem is that Maryland vanity license plates only allow for a max of seven letters.  I can't find a good seven-letter plate.  Even eight letters won't help me.  WRITEWELL is nine letters.  I can't even do WRITWEL.  If I'm going to promote writing well, I guess I should be able to spell.

The best I can come up with is WRITER or WRITE.  I haven't checked yet, but I'm guessing they're taken.  When I get my new car (my Acura TL is a good car, which means it will never die), I'll look into vanity plates then.

Here's the recent Write Well Me pick:

UBUIBME.

Welcome, License Plate category!