Michigan License Plates too Naughty for the Road
Michigan License Plates too Naughty for the Road
03BUTT, 0GIVEN, and OHMYGOD are just some of the 20,000-plus words the Michigan Department of State won’t allow. According to MLive.com, these words are just too crude, political, or dirty for Michigan license plates.
Some are pretty obvious why they were rejected and I won’t retype them, but you can see the whole list here. Others are a bit of a stretch that I think is a little over-cautious. Is “OHHHHH” really that bad? Does the MDS think that’s sexual?
Per the state law the following rules apply when you want that new vanity plate:
- Are profane, obscene, sexually explicit or graphic, excretory-related or depicting a swear word
- Describe intimate body parts
- Describe drugs or alcohol, including their use or culture (ex. ‘M00NSHN’)
- Describe illegal activities or illegal substances (ex. ‘MAFIA’)
- Substantially interfere with law enforcement’s IDing of plates
- Disparage, promote or condone hate or violence against a business, group or person (ex. ‘H8C0PS’)
- Conflict with Michigan’s license plate number system
No WIENER Michigan plate for you sir!
The Secretary of State actually has 25 employees and their job is to review these license plates. I would love to sit in on those meetings. Or that Zoom. You know it has to be a Zoom meeting. “Okay next up on the list is DCKBUT, yay or nay?” A bunch of rumbling then the hilarious name you spent your entire bathroom break coming up with is BANNED!
There’s a 3 step process to get your plate approved. The above team reviews and flags all the violations. Another compiles all the flagged plates and sends them to a committee that has a final decision. Then another committee considers alternate options.
Your plates will be banned for being politically charged. You mess with a company’s logo or brand and that can also be banned. For example “E1NER” on a Western Michigan University plate because W of the logo completes the “naughty word”. I mean come on, WIENER? Remember when Kramer on Seinfeld was the Assman? Bet that wouldn’t work with our MDS!
You may not need those vanity plates if you get one of these remote jobs:
Michigan's Top 10 Companies Hiring Remote Workers
