This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: IB6UB9 and Other Plates of Glory
This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays, we’re talking about vanity plates. Some people wish to turn their bumper into a billboard, and in a free society there will always be those who wish to push the limits on freedom of expression. Whether they’re clever, crude, or just confusing, sometimes they hit a nerve with the authorities. When that happens, things can get weird.
When your own name is deemed offensive
In Nova Scotia, a man named Lorne Grabher found out the hard way that your own name can still get you flagged. He had a vanity plate with his surname—GRABHER—which he’d used for years without issue. But in 2016, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles pulled the plate after someone complained it promoted violence against women. Grabher appealed all the way to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. The court ruled in 2022 that context didn’t matter, and a plate like that could reasonably be seen as offensive. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case, leaving the cancellation in place.
Language clash
In California, a Tesla Cybertruck with the plate LOLOCT7 stirred up international outrage in late 2024. Critics said the plate appeared to mock the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. The California DMV recalled the plate and launched an internal review. The family who owned the truck insisted it meant something else entirely. In Tagalog, “Lolo” means grandfather. “CT” was shorthand for Cybertruck. The number 7 represented the owner’s children. The DMV apologized, but did not reinstate the plate. The story made global headlines, and the plate was revoked for good. It seems very unlikely the owner of that plate intended so suggest LOL OCT7 but people are sensitive.
SOYHUNG?
Still in the U.S., Maine officials cracked down on vanity plates in 2023 after an influx of vulgar and suggestive applications for new plates. Among the plates pulled was LUVTOFU. The owner, Peter Starostecki, said he was just celebrating his love of plant-based food. The state’s review board disagreed, finding the plate too easily misread as something less wholesome. Starostecki appealed, saying there was nothing dirty about tofu, but lost. The plate was pulled and the new rules stood.
These licence plates all ran afoul of public sensibilities in somebody’s opinion. Getting your plate approved can be harder than it looks, and keeping it might be even harder. When it comes to personalized plates, clever may be more controversial than one might think at first glance.
