Here are Georgia's most... interesting rejected vanity license plates
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Every year, officials at the Georgia Department of Revenue reject roughly 200 applications for vanity license plates for being obscene, defamatory or profane.
Why it matters: If you’re going to sit in hours of traffic every week, you might as well get a chuckle from the car braking in front of you.
- However, there are rules in a civilized society, folks.
The rules: The state prohibits obscene, defamatory or profane “prestige” plates and reserves the right to recall ones that slip past.
- Plates that are sexual in nature; disparage a religion or religious being; disparage an ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation; include a trademark or copyright; or reference criminal activity or drugs and alcohol likely won’t make the cut.
Also off limits are combinations that include “GBI, FBI, GSP, GOV, H8, HA8, HAT, HAYTR, AYTR, ANTI, ANTE, SUCK, SUK, BLOW, or 69.”
- In 2013, an Atlanta man sued the state revenue commissioner for rejecting his requests to put “4GAYLIB” “GAYPWR” and “GAYGUY" on a license plate.
Details: Axios filed an Open Records Request for the past two years of rejected prestige plates. Here’s what you won't see on the road:
So much hatin’: Applications were rejected for clapping back at haters, including: YUH4TIN, DNTH8, YUHATN, YUH8TN, HIH8RZ, YRUH8N
Funny business: Names of corporations and brands were blocked, including SPRITE, two riffs on Armani, ADIDAS69, GEIC0, ATARI and MTNDEW.
Entertaining: TUPAC5, ST4RWRS, CQB241 (the same license plate number as the killer car in Stephen King’s “Christine”), B0NJ0VI, SKELETOR, 1BATMAN, KALEESI, and a Prince trifecta (DOVSCRY, BTIFUL1, PRPLRAN)
Pandemic plates: People tried — and failed — to snag tags with N0MASK, N0VACS, C0VID19, COVID, C0VID, 2C0VID, K0VID19, C0R0NAV, C0R0NA7
Sports: ATLBRVZ, BALBOA, EVANDER, FOREMAN (boxing-related plates that were all rejected on the same day), AUFC15, and variations on Kobe Bryant.
Creative AF: Among the proposed plates playing off “____ as f___,” some of the most memorable were VEGANAF, THICCAF, L0UDASF, S0LIDAF, BLACKAF, BR0KEAF, SICKAF
Red state: In addition to PRAGERU (the name of a conservative nonprofit), officials rejected TRMP1, TRMP3, TRUMP24 and TRMP2.
Grow up: 0FOXGVN, DIZNUTS, DZZNUTS, DISSNUTS, 1FUCKY00, IPLZHER, 69H0, T0PL3ZZ, SEKSY1, SPR3D3M, B3ND0VR
When in Rome: People tried to sneak IXII (9-11), and DCXCVI (696)
Thomas’ thought bubble: My dad was a urologist and was able to score a license plate that read “C ME 2 P,” which to this day makes me giggle.
- His two other proposed plates — which I can’t repeat here in this family-friendly newsletter — were rejected.
Also, let’s all have a round of applause for the Georgia Open Records Act.