Rejected license plates: These car tags were too vulgar to be seen on Mississippi roads
Justin VicoryWe've all seen them — personalized license plates that make a vehicle stand out or draw attention to the driver.
But there are unique combinations of seven letters and numbers that we will never see.
That's because the Mississippi Department of Motor Vehicles determines them to be too offensive.
The Clarion Ledger wanted to know more about these rejected plates — how the decisions are made and what the requests were. Here's what we found.
How does the department decide?
The DMV rejected applications for 26 personalized plates in 2018.
There's no manual or official policy regarding the approval of personalized plates, said Chris Necaise, staff attorney with the Mississippi Department of Revenue. DOR oversees the state's DMVs since the agency is responsible for collecting state and local tax revenues.
Rather, the department refers to state obscenity laws to determine whether "a combination of letters or numbers which comprise words or expressions are considered obscene, slandering, insulting or vulgar in ordinary usage."
"If such combination is considered by the one reviewing it to be obscene, slandering, insulting, or vulgar in ordinary usage, then issuance of the plate will be denied," Necaise said.
Necaise said driver privacy laws prevent the department from releasing application information, which might provide more details on the applicant's thought process behind the plate request.
Still, a list of the rejected plates can be broken down into distinct categories: sex, vulgar language and violence.
But some rejected plates are more difficult to explain.
No sexual innuendo on license plates
Several of the rejected plates had some form of sexual act, innuendo or terminology in the applicant's combination of letters and numbers.
For example, any plate submitted to the DMV with "69" was rejected.
Other word combinations, however innocuous, were also rejected such as:
In some cases, plate censors will consult the Urban Dictionary to find out what the kids are saying these days, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
One example seems to be the following plate request, which was denied.
"Feeling froggy" can mean multiple things, according to Urban Dictionary. It can refer to a physical provocation or be more sexual in nature.
In some corners, it can also refer to military slang, making the censors' job more tricky.
No vulgar language on license plates
Other rejected plates contain some form of vulgar language such as:
Or:
Hard to disagree with this one. But it's all about the language.
No violence on license plates
Other rejected plates included some kind of violent act, description or innuendo in the application. Consider the following, which is pretty upfront.
This one might seem like a public service announcement, especially for police, but it too was rejected.
So, what about these?
Other plate rejections are less easy to understand and the department did not offer an explanation when asked.
For example, this one deserved a followup from the DMV:
Here's what the department was probably thinking:
Here are the rest of the applications that were rejected in 2018:
- HOMOBL2
- BENIBOI
- BHOOKER
- NAWTY2
- KINGPIN
- IRONAZZ
- 1MOMO
- KILATAN
- YAYA69
- PNUTWRM
- BJSGRND
- GCCIGNG
- WIZZNAT
- WUGGA
Contact Justin Vicory at 769-572-1418 or jvicory@gannett.com. Follow @justinvicory on Twitter.
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