Earlier today, I indulged myself and did the kind of posting I try to shy away from, and talked about how great New Hampshire is. I should have known that karma would turn around and promptly bite me in the ass, because it did — in spades.
When I’m on the highway, I have fun spotting vanity plates, and trying to decipher them. New Hampshire only recently expanded our plates from six to seven characters, so getting your message across within those limits can be difficult.
A while ago, when planning his escape from Massachusetts, Bruce held a contest for what should be his vanity plate once he settles in. I won with “XMASHOL,” telling him that he might sneak it past the DMV by explaining it is a celebration of the X-Mas Holiday. I sincerely doubted it at the time.
After today, though, I’m starting to wonder if Bruce ought to go for it anyway. Because I saw a vehicle with this on its plates.
I’m hoping the driver has an utterly innocent explanation for it, and I’m hoping that the DMV was either having a bad day or something when they let it slide.
There’s a process where people offended by license plates can complain and, possibly, have it revoked. I’m not going to do that myself, but I would not be the least bit surprised if someone else does.
A good percentage of people under 35 probably have no clude what that means.
Yes, that’s in really poor taste and the DMV should’ve have rejected it, but damn if I didn’t laugh when I saw it–a “holy hell, I can’t believe that” kind of laugh! I (Interesting how it works with NH state motto to form a sentence, too. Pretty clever…)
Love the “XMASHOL”! That’s great!
learn something new everyday… darn I wish I could say I was “under 35” like jpm100 says.
Perhaps it is like the restaurant named Sambos. That was named for the original owners and did not have anything to do with race.
http://www.santabarbara.com/dining/a_stones_throw/sambos/
The Original Sambos
216 West Cabrillo Blvd
Santa Barbara, CA
805-965-3269
Rating: 100 feet
On June 17, 1957 the first of Sambo’s nationwide chain of family restaurants was opened in this very location, right across the street from the beach. The name derived from a combination of the original owners Sam Battistone and Newell Bonette who commonly were referred to as Sam and Bo. When they discovered the book “Little Black Sambo” written by Hellen Bartrum in 1899, they thought it was the perfect match. Today, this original Sambo’s is the only one remaining in America.
SAMBOS is only racist because the racist wanted it to be racist. There are thousands of common use words of the past that are now deemed racist by the racist. A racist see’s racism everywhere. Is that to cover for themselves?
A number of years ago in upstate New York a guy applied for two vanity plates with his last name (followed by a 1 on the one plate and a 2 on the other). The motor vehicle dept. rejected his claim on the grounds that it was an obscene word. His last name was “Hooker” (yes, just like the Civil War general — dunno if he was a descendent or not).
Being told that his name was obscene really got him angry, so he took the state to court — and won the case — and got his plates.
Jay,
I think it’s going to be “MA SKP” (Massachusetts Escapee, for those of you still on your first cup this morning).
Here’s one I wish I was able to get a picture of…I saw a pickup truck a while back with a MA commercial license plate that read “M-16”.
How the hell did THAT one pass muster in this state?
Sambo’s was an excellent restaurant! Tasty, inexpensive, and there at 2 AM when I was of an age to want a restaurant at 2 AM. It’s a shame that illiterate racist fools ran them out of business.
This reminds me of Paula Werme, a lawyer in NH who routinely battles the NH Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). She had a license plate that read “H8DCYF” (for Hate DCYF). People who work for DCY saw it, complained, and the DMV revoked the plates. In fact, when she refused to turn them in, the state of NH sent state police officers to take them off her car.
I’m from the South and I know several white men nicknamed “Sambo”. It’s a common nickname in my neck of the woods. I don’t know what it’s short for. I’ve always assumed Samuel, but the way nicknames are given out down here, it could well be short for Herbert. It’s not as common as “Bubba”, but it’s popular. There’s a tendency to take first syllables or first letters of names and add “bo” to them to make nicknames, like in “Jimbo” or “D-bo”.