Vanity plates have served for a long time as both a source of revenue (for the licensing authorities) and as a source of amusement for the rest of us. Lawrence Welk had a vanity plate that read NE1NE2. In the eponymous Seinfeld TV series, wacky neighbor Kramer kept looking for a license plate that read ASSMAN until it turned up on a car belonging to a proctologist. The new Breaking Bad spinoff – Better Call Saul – shows the back of a Cadillac with the plate LWYRUP.
All too often, people go overboard or cannot get exactly the right plate, resulting in poor spelling and questionable taste. A friend of mine (the second F in Friend of a Friend – FOAF) has collected vanity plate names for decades as a hobby and, when I see an amusing one, I send it on to him. Here is a list of recent ones I’ve seen that, in a number of cases, asks the inevitable question “Why?” How a few of these got past the prudish censors is beyond me.
| AWTOBAN | CARRPDM | OFEELIA |
| SEXTONL | ALLONS E | EL FLOW |
| CORKDORK | P8DOFF | BUSTEM |
| EL-CHE | KING ANT | 6BUURGH |
| 1 KNOW | 2ADMIRE | NASTY4-6 |
| 1HOTHO | PPSSY | JUJUMMY |
| MAH TOY | IM GRUVY | JOE BUTT |
And my favorite…
O DIREA
Well, I gotta go. If you see an amusing or questionable plate, pass it on.
Curmudgeon at Large 
Good list … and here ya go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2X_XNdmWws
I remember the episode well and am careful where I sit.
That is a classic episode.
One of my work colleagues went to Vegas with his wife recently and saw a plate that he said reminded him of me—WAHAHA … I dunno — I think it’s missing the B or M at the front, as my laughs are usually evil (but a fun kind of evil).
Too bad I just got a different kind of specialty plate … that would be a winner.
To which I say BWAHAHA!
Ha! Love the Lawrence Welk one! That phrase is still burned into my brain after all these years.
I just saw one last night: “ITRAINU”. I presume it belonged to a personal trainer, but it brought out the worst in me. I wanted to go and bang on his window and yell “That’s what you think, buddy!” or “Never in a million years!” But then again, I have been accused of being untrainable…
Then you need a vanity plate that reads UNTRNBL, which could also mean untrained bull.
To-may-to; to-mah-to…
Hi Curmy! Vanity plates annoy me too. But I think the family member stickers, including the pets, displayed across the back window do it even more. Very funny listing of ones you’ve seen though. Is that a pink Cadillac you’re driving or is it just me? Do you sell Mary Kay cosmetics on the side or something?
You know, the juxtaposition of a pink Mary Kay Cadillac with a CRMDGN plate is somehow very appealing.
Yes in a very oxymoronic kind of way – a good fit for CAL for sure
So the CRMDGN isn’t yours? Drat! It should be.
It should be but I would then lose my anonymity.
🙂
“Joe Butt”–Haha. What would make someone put that on their license plate? I’d hate to see his bumper stickers.
I have also seen FAT JOE. I assume that it is not the same guy’s other car but you never know.
Do you happen to know which state has more per capita vanities than any other state? I have no idea, but if I had to wager a guess, I would say North Dakota.
I have no idea either but there is plenty of vanity to go around.