MUGGL3, SRV GOD, FURSHR (automobile vanity plates)

 Seeing personalized license plates can sometimes stir thoughts while decoding the meaning is finally solved. Many plates are simple affirmations; e.g. Bible verse (MATT3 14), college cheer ("go State" for Michigan State University's collegiate sports teams), or friendly exhortation ("smile"). Others are cryptic of personal incident or reference point, maybe a personal motto or philosophy. The license plate today in the coffee roaster's public parking lot, (MUGGL3), is a reference to the non-magical characters in the world of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Her spelling is "muggle," but often a desired vanity plate substitutes numbers for letters because another person previously laid claim to MUGGLE, for instance.

Spotted in grocery store parking lot, "serve [your lord] God"

Apparently, some combinations of numbers and letters are banned if profanity or another kind of provocation is likely to come from it. But that leaves many ways to arrange the letters and numbers (maximum 7 spaces to fill). And because some themed license plates (college colors and logo such as block 'S' in green for Michigan State University) allow a person to elide the vanity plate word or phrase together with that theme letter, the normal limit of 7 numbers or letters can 'borrow' that initial colored, theme letter. As an example, the resulting plate could read 'S't8is1 for "State is [number] 1 [ranked]." Also in this example is an illustration of 'borrowing' the sound of a letter or number to stand for a word such as "8" for "ate" (instead of the normal "eight"). Another common one is "for" read from the '4' and "to" read from the '2'.

The website for the State of Michigan's office of Secretary of State [for motor vehicles] gives the following advice on Personalized Plates.

Plate may be personalized with up to 6 or 7 characters, depending on plate type. All plate configurations are based on availability and are subject to review by the Michigan Department of State. The department has the authority to decline to issue a configuration, per state law.

• Only use letters A-Z and numbers 0-9 (symbols cannot be processed)
• Spaces are allowed and are counted as characters
• The letter ‘O’ is substituted by the number ‘0’

The details of the personalized plate policy include this paragraph:

 

The Secretary of State will not issue a configuration of either letters, numbers or letters and numbers that carries a connotation that is profane, obscene; a swear word of depicts a swear word; sexually explicit or graphic; excretory-related; used to describe intimate body parts or genitals; used to describe alcohol, alcohol use, drugs, drug culture or drug use; used to describe illegal activities or illegal substances; use to substantially interfere with plate identification for law enforcement purposes; used to disparage or promote or condone hate or violence directed at any type of business, group or persons, a foreign word falling into these categorie, or that conflicts with the regular license plate numbering system.

Phonetic spelling of "for sure!" exclamation.

The obvious words or phrases or chapter-verse citations (Bible), as well as the cryptic combinations of number and letter have given meaning to the authors of them, as well as to their fellow motorists who may notice them while parked, or when stalled in heavy traffic. It is likely that the premium added cost that the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (Secretary of State in the case of Michigan) collects for themed plates and also for vanity plates will continue long into the future as a painless way to increase the state's revenues from creative drivers. Perhaps someone will gain access to their database of current and historical combinations or numbers and letters to produce a more thorough typology of playful plates than the impressions and anecdotes gathered in this article. And if something comparative were possible between states and nations, then even more light would be shone on the relationship of people, their vehicles, and the times they live in.

[Addendum 29 Aug 2024] See also: Detroit Free Press newspaper story, "Michigan has banned more than 26,000 vehicle license plates,"

 https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/08/13/michigan-banned-license-plates/74461282007/

*appended with the 606 pages of banned combinations of letters and numbers [26,000+ to date]