At this point in our near daily coverage of witty vanity plates, our attention turns to the often overlooked Old Line State. Maryland Vehicle Administration officials managed to get several offensive or potentially offensive words stricken from the list of acceptable vocabulary from which MVA derives its yea or nay over vanity plate slogans.
Sorry, no HEROIN, TOILET, FBI, CIA, KILLALL, SAFESEX, PIMP, CHUMP, or BUNS, but there are a number of really bad words on the list that the department refuses to publish due to their pejorative punch. Bearing in mind fresh memories of certain other ridiculous vanity plate phrases, we can only imagine what's come under the scrutiny of Maryland's vigilant vehicle administration clerks. The phrases THEPUKE, FATPIMP, FATAL, BUTTS, SUX2BU, PHATAZZ, BAD AZZ, and WTF were already on tags, but were also purged when savvy administrators caught the oversight.
According to state guidelines, any references to poop, sex, obscenity, and any phrase that could be fraudulent or deceptive (hence, no FBI or CIA) are prohibited. Also on the blacklist are mentions of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
The Baltimore Sun reported that inmates working in the state's license plate factory are often the ones who catch naughty phrases before they hit the streets. Officials rely upon their knowledge of obscure (to the rest of us) slang terms. Still, occasionally, one slips through. MVA approved 6UALDV8 (an abbreviation for "sexual deviant"), as well as MIERDA (spanish slang for feces) for a short time.
In his Maryland themed blog, the Washington Post's Mike Rosenwald asked commenters for their ideal vanity plate phrases. What would you pick? (Hat tip to Bill!)
Photo credit: Redline402