March 29 2011
Inanity Plates
With the Grand Prix leaving town, and Easter road trips around the corner, the time seems right to play with number plates. Blog regular JD suggested this Storm, a chance to break away from the clichés of XCELR8, or BMW4ME.
Let’s lend the vanity racket some new creativity, finding fresh combos of 7 or less characters each, be that involving letters, numbers, symbols (anything on a standard keyboard), or cocktails of all three. For example, a chef may own RATA2E, or Usain Bolt could brag 100M- (100 Metre dash). Just as Sir Alec Guinness may have puttered Pall Mall bearing the rego URD444 (you are the force).
That’s the game. Supply the driver – a famous name past or present, a certain vocation – and their vanity combination. Try to avoid the gimmick sites around the web, where a dentist’s ride brags 23PAIR (tooth repair), and chomp into the original stuff. Licence to use symbols, with or without letters and numbers, should free your mind.
Please bear in mind that the weirder blends may not make the Comments page as easily as others. And I’ll see if I can loosen my spam-net for a few days. (Let me know if stuff ain’t reaching the forum too.)
With Thursday sundown as D-day, I’ll be issuing prizes for the best triple combo (letters, numbers, symbols), the best doubles (in all categories), and even the best singles (all letters, all numbers, or all symbols), as well as the best overall.
To help us grasp your gag, maybe best to submit your stuff this way:
Marksman: IRI [right between the eyes]
Angela Merkel: GU10TAG [Guten Tag]
Jeffrey Archer: =1ST= [First Among Equals]
Engines primed? All systems go.
Comments
Boniface — 29 March at 01:30AM
Assuming 7 characters are OK (see Merkel), here's my first go-
Bill Murray: GAYDOH* [Groundhog Day star]
Justin Bieber: MUSH14S [Mush for teens]
And assuming we can use the smiley:
Brad Renfro : ) C&H [Happy Campers and heroin]
PRS — 29 March at 01:36AM
Ted Baillieu: -=-U [bail + U]
Bryce Courtenay: 1APRIL [April Fool's Day]
Albert Einstein: 1ST1 [ein + st + ein]
Short Order Cook: MNX [Ham and Eggs]
Diner: E10M [Eaten 'em]
Tim Mathieson: BREDED [Red in Bed]
and if GU10TAG (at 7) is allowable then
Elvis Presley: 0ME10DR [Love Me Tender]
PRS — 29 March at 01:40AM
FWIW there used to be an old white Valiant around my area with a vanity plate LOSER. I don't know who he was, and suspect he didn't either!
dg — 29 March at 02:42AM
The captain of the MV Tampa: ALL@C
Bill Gates: $4##APS (money for windows apps)
Charlie Sheen: ICANB0T
Dolly Parton: (O)(O)!
Gordon Ramsey: F#@K\_/ (that's a bowl after the F word)
dg — 29 March at 02:46AM
Subway inventor:7GR&WCH (7 gr-am-per sand-wich)
How many is the max characters on a number plate???
dg — 29 March at 03:00AM
Christine Nixon: DIS*=0? (disaster risk is zero?)
Andrew Bolt: INO>U
Centrelink big boss: Q^4DAYS (queue up...)
Kasey Chambers: O2BABUT (sang Not Pretty Enough)
Charles Lamb: GR8S-AS
dg — 29 March at 03:02AM
FREUD: PNISNV
Sam — 29 March at 08:54AM
AFL fan: illi
Rugby fan: H
Boniface — 29 March at 09:18AM
Anthony Hopkins: .DRAMA [Period drama]
Sam — 29 March at 09:34AM
Journalist Mark Davis: ? [Question, Mark]
DC — 29 March at 09:42AM
Another two for Sir Hopkins: HANI() and CANI()
A computer administrator: 133717
Which can probably be interpreted as obscene. Then again, our admin at work has 1337 as his phone ext, so it's not entirely original. Someone else at work has the numberplate OMGLOL.
But my favourite that I've seen was just in passing, years ago. Somewhere in Sydney there is a bright pink ute with the numberplate UTERUS.
RK — 29 March at 10:04AM
Luciano Pavarotti: €PN10R [European tenor]
DC — 29 March at 10:11AM
MacDonalds employee: ¼£R
DC — 29 March at 10:16AM
Gravedigger: †\--/†
DC — 29 March at 10:17AM
†\__/† looks better
DC — 29 March at 10:19AM
Weather forecaster: ±°
Hope the odd characters are coming out for everyone.
Nib — 29 March at 10:23AM
Props for the Subway find. (Though I would clip PNIS to PNS. L'chaim!)
:ii (colonise)
b-/ (breaststroke)
mo{ (mob racket)
1g% (one gram per cent)
n-4k (knife 'n' fork)
mawaltz~ (waltz in ma tilde)
This reminds me of my old Simpletext days in primary school getting the robotic voice to read out what was typed.
DA — 29 March at 10:25AM
I can hardly revise the rules now - let's stick with 7 characters or less, after my Merkel mangle.
Pied Piper: R@AT@T@
Nib — 29 March at 10:30AM
th_ (thunderstrike)
b#LR° (bachelor degree)
DC — 29 March at 10:38AM
.,GN8: dot com magnate
DC — 29 March at 10:42AM
.,GN8 dot com magnate (this time without the distracting colon)
~~1STC Tilda Swinton
2MTA-T Tom Hanks (thanks - T...)
Nib — 29 March at 11:08AM
liinnpl8 (licence plate)
DC — 29 March at 11:14AM
7&ET³ David Fincher
6° Kevin Bacon
#$ drug dealer
#% drug user
DC — 29 March at 11:33AM
BUFE++ Buffy Summers
++GOOD Big Brother
HE@H¬ Heathcliff
ML — 29 March at 01:11PM
210KMN - Howard Carter
04U2C - Riot Squad Bus
ML — 29 March at 03:55PM
0SOUP4U - Yev Kassem
DC — 29 March at 04:03PM
AUBE Dawn French (I had to look it up)
HATER Heart Doctor
X? Archaeologist/Treasure hunter
4| Sailor (depending on the font of your 4, I guess)
LR — 29 March at 04:58PM
FAB4>JC
John Lennon
PRS — 29 March at 05:23PM
Charlie Windsor: <O?
DC — 29 March at 05:27PM
†♠† Another go at gravedigger
↓ Cormac McCarthy (The Road)
PRS — 29 March at 05:28PM
Gambler: W4A£ [Double you for a quid]
PRS — 29 March at 05:31PM
The Pope's Chauffeur: o=|†|=o
DC — 29 March at 05:37PM
S5HA Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse Five)
ML — 29 March at 05:37PM
0<>2U - Sinead O'Conner
0U24ME - Anyone who doesn't like Irish music
UMAKE0c - Jimmy Barnes
PRS — 29 March at 06:53PM
James Bond: ♦♦R4FA [Diamonds Are Forever]
PRS — 29 March at 07:00PM
Crossword solver: !?^OIC [Huh, What the..., enlightenment, Oh, I see]
DC — 29 March at 07:22PM
PRS, I'd recommend ♦♦R4∞ for the James Bond.
Also AUI and любовь (if my English-Russian dictionary does not lie).
DC — 29 March at 07:27PM
(I think I missed that note up the top about "anything on a standard keyboard". Ahem.)
DA — 29 March at 09:01PM
As it is, DC, we're stretching Vic Roads' repertoire, but that's what makes this Storm so bizarro.
Ian's GP: D# [Doc to Thorpe]
Bugs Bunny: ^^SOSII [Carrots help eyes]
Peter Costello: (......( [Bracket creep]
RV — 29 March at 10:03PM
Astronaut: 0`ty
RV — 29 March at 10:04PM
Astronaut:0`T
PRS — 29 March at 10:12PM
Masterchef: PL8^ [Plate up]
@DC, yes - you sucked me in too, but getting the oddities in was fun...
PRS — 29 March at 10:15PM
Magician: SL8FH& [Sleight of Hand]
RV — 29 March at 10:16PM
Sidney Poitier: 22+0 (2's are with love)
RV — 29 March at 10:21PM
children's story writer: 11/AT (ones upon a time)
RV — 29 March at 10:30PM
lawyer: CCUT (see you in court)
Boniface — 29 March at 10:39PM
Robbie Coltrane in Nuns on the Run: AP(TER [Apparent he-sister]
RV — 29 March at 10:43PM
Caster Semenya: XXORXY
Boniface — 29 March at 10:53PM
Janitor: ^AKER [Caretaker]
RV — 29 March at 10:58PM
Actor: QR880 (curate's egg)
Boniface — 29 March at 11:04PM
John Travolta: {!{!{! [Brace! Brace! Brace!]
RV — 29 March at 11:07PM
Sleep therapist: 9ii (nigh nighs)
Rupert — 30 March at 07:07AM
A manager: >VII| (super v Is OR)
DA — 30 March at 07:40AM
RV, on fire. Some brilliant stuff here. I'm presuming astronaut = zero [grave] T, yes?
Graham Greene: BR/24^^ [Brighton Rock - or 24 Carats]
Graham Greene's Other Car: SHUS [Quiet American]
RV — 30 March at 08:01AM
Thanks DA. Yes, that's what I was going for on the zero gravity one. I think I'll change my Sidney Poitier one to 22R+0.
ML — 30 March at 08:49AM
V0EBOY - Graham Chapman
JD — 30 March at 09:51AM
Feels like I've arrived late to my own party! A few literary entries:
JK Rowling - HP$$$!
Dan Brown - DA CVI (Da Vinci Code)
Charles Darwin - S (Origin of Species)
DC — 30 March at 10:35AM
REDDDD Thomas Harris (Red Dragon)
And, falling back into bad habits
SHλ-?S Thomas Harris (Silence of the (Lambda-DA)S)
DC — 30 March at 11:06AM
Stephen King:
F (Firestarter)
DA (The Dark Half)
G4 (Four Past Midnight)
DORA (Roadwork)
GUNSSS (The Gunslinger)
THING (Night Shift)
NOZZ (Insomnia)
!! (Rage)
^!!! (Rose Madder)
→∩← (Under the Dome)
Anne Rice:
VV? (Interview with the Vampire)
HELLER (Queen of the Damned)
12 (The Witching Hour)
PRS — 30 March at 11:21AM
Julia Gillard (pre electiojn): d0> [moving forward]
Julia Gillard (now): <0b [in retreat]
RV — 30 March at 12:04PM
Dating agency: 22CO (two's company)
debt collection company: ORLL (or else)
Eld Jaws Anon — 30 March at 01:01PM
Alice Cooper: ____o__ (someone prostrating themselves a-la "Wayne's World": "We're not worthy!")
Tony Abbott: <?>?^?v (not sure which direction he's heading in, so ultimately going down...)
Barack Obama: 1x2x3x> (1 strike, 2 strikes, 3 strikes, you're outta here, based on recent polls after the air attacks in Libya, effectively being a 3rd war being prosecuted by the US)
Japan: *([o])* (flag is glowing in the dark...)
Speaking of number plates, a somewhat amusing anecdote if I may. Some years ago in SA the Wxx-nnn plates (which were the standard issue at the time) because WRX-nnn... A large number of people owning Subaru Imprezas (including a work friend of mine) re-registered their cars during that time...
Sam — 30 March at 01:23PM
Lord Peter Wimsey's daimler: WOROT ['Mrs Merdle' averse to row]
Rupert — 30 March at 02:10PM
Marilyn Monroe: ♦♦♥HER
OR: 7YRITCH
OR: +KITLIE
OR: S [Bus stop]
OR: TRIED SONIC [Too long, I know]
Eld Jaws Anon — 30 March at 05:39PM
Sir Isaac Newton: #@%ipad (based on the myth of the falling apple striking him on the head...)
Ford Prefect: TOWEL (I know I'd die laughing if ever I saw an actual Ford Prefect car with that actual number plate!)
Ricky Ponting: 4mercpt
Michael Clarke: oz cpt
Shane Watson: oz vcpt
Eld Jaws Anon — 30 March at 05:45PM
Not forgetting DA himself: DA(5,5)
PRS — 30 March at 07:47PM
Hefner's bunnies:'oo'
RV — 30 March at 10:47PM
PRISON ESCAPEE: rmd^t
PRS — 30 March at 11:43PM
Theodor Geisel, aka Dr Seuss: FEMOGZ [The Cat in the Hat]
PRS — 31 March at 12:01AM
Hilary Swank: 10^6$BB [Million Dollar Baby]
Movie or Nursery Rhyme: 3MCE [Three Blind Mice]
Another movie: 2DAY+2 [The Day After Tomorrow]
RV — 31 March at 07:34AM
DENTIST: IH8^DK
Nib — 31 March at 08:12AM
II (capsize)
Nib — 31 March at 08:13AM
...wow, my current musical is getting to me. Been having to drill 'zee', 'er' and 'ize' into words due to American setting.
Nib — 31 March at 08:17AM
*blink* Wait... capsise? I'm just going to go exchange this shovel for a Chilean drill to dig myself out of this hole faster. Eventually I'll come out somewhere around Denmark.
DA — 31 March at 08:47AM
So how's your spelling coming along anyway Nib? Can you recite vichyssoise and haemorrhage in your sleep by now?
DA — 31 March at 02:28PM
My co-author: $8000FJ
Nib — 31 March at 10:41PM
I was spelling diarrhoea, champagne and pneumonia in kindergarten. (Those were the only three I needed to impress relatives at family functions, so I would repeat them over and over to different audiences.)
I also started a modern version of The Devil's Dictionary when I was 17, with symbol-for-symbol pronunciation key. Got halfway through the As before "study" took priority.
I have already picked out half a dozen typos in the musical script. ^_^
Nib — 31 March at 10:41PM
... TYPOES?! :P
dg — 01 April at 03:05AM
Just as long as your weren't writing recounts in kindy about diarrhoea, champagne and pneumonia (!)