Licence plates too racy for British Columbia

Licence plates too racy for British Columbia

Some licence plates are just too risqué, rude or raunchy for British Columbia residents to handle, as far as the Insurance Corporation of B.C. is concerned.

In response to a Freedom of Information request from the Vancouver Sun, ICBC has released a list of all personalized plates rejected since 2004 -- more than 800 in all.

Many plates were rejected for being "offensive" or "not in good taste" -- such as GUNS, GANSTA, DUM ASS, IH8MYX, IHAV2P and BT UGLY. Others were banned for "suggestive" content, like 38DD, SHWING, BITE ME and others that can't even be published.

Drug and alcohol references, like LUSH and PUSHER, are also a no-no. And B.C. residents have failed several times to get either NEWFIE or REDNECK approved. So have those wanting a speed-inspired plate. Applicants have tried -- and failed -- to get 2 FAST, GUNIT, ZIPNBY and IXLR8.

Other plates were rejected because they're too religious. HINDU, ONE GOD and YAY GOD were all rejected. Interestingly, both DEVIL and SATAN were rejected as offensive, while DEMON was nixed because it was too religious.

Catching offensive plates can sometimes require decoding on ICBC's part, as with the rejected plates OMGWTF and FUBAR (the first an Internet acronym, the second a military one) and PEN followed by the number 15 (the 15 looks like IS).

"It's challenging at times, for sure," said ICBC spokesman Doug Henderson, but he notes the reviewers are experienced. "They develop a sense of the different ways of spelling things out with letters and numbers."

Spicy licence plates are just 2MUCH for ICBC (Times Colonist, 18 september 2007)