WTF license plate ban follow-up

I finally got around to publishing the Colorado follow-up to that
North Carolina story about the WTF license plate. CO has 261
prohibited three-letter combinations on its standard issue plate. Some
of them, I still can't figure out. Why can't you have a plate with USB
on it? What did I miss there?

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...st-for-plates/

Anyway, the BEST part is that our our interactive department put
together a Flash game in which you can APPROVE or DENY random pop-ups
of Colorado license plates to see how well you think you know the
list. You can play that game at:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/license-plates/

On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:56:18 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
>
>I finally got around to publishing the Colorado follow-up to that
>North Carolina story about the WTF license plate. CO has 261
>prohibited three-letter combinations on its standard issue plate. Some
>of them, I still can't figure out. Why can't you have a plate with USB
>on it? What did I miss there?

I guess "USB" is offensive to those who prefer parallel, serial, SCSI or Apple
Desktop Bus interfaces.


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To reply by e-mail, remove the "restrictor plate"

On Jul 28, 11:09*am, H.B. Elkins >
wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:56:18 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
>
> >I finally got around to publishing the Colorado follow-up to that
> >North Carolina story about the WTF license plate. CO has 261
> >prohibited three-letter combinations on its standard issue plate. Some
> >of them, I still can't figure out. Why can't you have a plate with USB
> >on it? What did I miss there?
>
> I guess "USB" is offensive to those who prefer parallel, serial, SCSI or Apple
> Desktop Bus interfaces.
>
> --
> To reply by e-mail, remove the "restrictor plate"

Too close to USoB ?

On Jul 28, 7:56*am, " > wrote:
> I finally got around to publishing the Colorado follow-up to that
> North Carolina story about the WTF license plate. CO has 261
> prohibited three-letter combinations on its standard issue plate. Some
> of them, I still can't figure out. Why can't you have a plate with USB
> on it? What did I miss there?
>
> http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...xx-list-for-pl...
>
> Anyway, the BEST part is that our our interactive department put
> together a Flash game in which you can APPROVE or DENY random pop-ups
> of Colorado license plates to see how well you think you know the
> list. You can play that game at:
>
> http://www.rockymountainnews.com/license-plates/

With some of those seemingly innocent combinations, I'm surprised at
the "OFU" series that was issued in Pueblo County.

Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).

Steve Riner
Pueblo West CO

Explore New Mexico and Minnesota highways: http://www.steve-riner.com

On 2008-07-29, Steve Riner > wrote:

> Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
> in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).

Maybe because Q is so close to O?

California solves this problem by making the Q's noticeably smaller than
the O's.


--
Steve Sobol / Victorville, CA, USA
It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room.

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:17:56 +0000 (UTC), Steve Sobol wrote:
>
>On 2008-07-29, Steve Riner > wrote:
>
>> Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
>> in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).
>
>Maybe because Q is so close to O?
>
>California solves this problem by making the Q's noticeably smaller than
>the O's.

Kentucky does not use I, O or Q in its license plate sequences. And come to
think of it, I don't know that I've ever seen a Z on a non-personalized KY
plate.


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On 29 Jul 2008 05:50:44 -0700, H.B Elkins > wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:17:56 +0000 (UTC), Steve Sobol wrote:
>>
>>On 2008-07-29, Steve Riner > wrote:
>>
>>> Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
>>> in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).
>>
>>Maybe because Q is so close to O?
>>
>>California solves this problem by making the Q's noticeably smaller than
>>the O's.
>
> Kentucky does not use I, O or Q in its license plate sequences. And come to
> think of it, I don't know that I've ever seen a Z on a non-personalized KY
> plate.

Meanwhile, Texas still insists on using only 20 letters - excluding A, E, I,
O, Q, and U - on their passenger and light truck plates, but someone finally
figured out that maybe they should add a character to keep from having to
start a new series every three or four years, thus the new series scheduled
for the start of 2009...

--
Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey ) Houston, Texas
www.io.com/~patrick/aeros.php (TCI's 2008-09 Houston Aeros) AA#2273
LAST GAME: Rockford 5, Houston 2 (April 25)
NEXT GAME: The 2008-09 season opener in early October

On Jul 28, 11:17*pm, Steve Sobol > wrote:
> On 2008-07-29, Steve Riner > wrote:
>
> > Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
> > in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).
>
> Maybe because Q is so close to O?

I do believe this is the correct answer. I thought HQR would suggest
Hooker, but from a distance it also looks like HOR.

> California solves this problem by making the Q's noticeably smaller than
> the O's.

CO does not, but likely should.

Did any of you play the license plate game at the second link?

On Jul 29, 6:50*am, H.B. Elkins >
wrote:
> On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:17:56 +0000 (UTC), Steve Sobol wrote:
>
> >On 2008-07-29, Steve Riner > wrote:
>
> >> Also, Colorado doesn't have standard issue plates with the letter "Q"
> >> in the series. It's the only letter not used (why I don't know).
>
> >Maybe because Q is so close to O?
>
> >California solves this problem by making the Q's noticeably smaller than
> >the O's.
>
> Kentucky does not use I, O or Q in its license plate sequences. And come to
> think of it, I don't know that I've ever seen a Z on a non-personalized KY
> plate.
>
> --
> To reply by e-mail, remove the "restrictor plate"

I have seen the rare "Q" on a vanity plate here but don't recall that
it's difficult to distinguish from the "O." I think the game Kevin
published in the RM News had a good rendition of it in the forbidden
combinations. Letters O and I are quite different from their similar-
looking numbers, with a boldly serifed I and very round O in contrast
to a more oval 0. California uses Qs with an exaggerated curlicue -
that was a modification of the original 1963 "Q" which had a barely
visible one. Kansas uses all letters in its plate combinations, with
its letter O and number 0 indistinguishable; and, I've seen both xxx
000 (triple zero) plates and OOO ### (triple letter O). Thus, there is
likely a OOO 000 out there somewhere. Now that Kansas plates have a
reversed sequence, will there also be a 000 OOO? And can they be
distinguished other than by plate background?

Steve Riner
Pueblo West CO

Explore New Mexico and Minnesota highways; http://www.steve-riner.com

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:07:18 -0700 (PDT), Steve Riner wrote:

>I have seen the rare "Q" on a vanity plate here but don't recall that
>it's difficult to distinguish from the "O." I think the game Kevin
>published in the RM News had a good rendition of it in the forbidden
>combinations. Letters O and I are quite different from their similar-
>looking numbers, with a boldly serifed I and very round O in contrast
>to a more oval 0. California uses Qs with an exaggerated curlicue -
>that was a modification of the original 1963 "Q" which had a barely
>visible one. Kansas uses all letters in its plate combinations, with
>its letter O and number 0 indistinguishable; and, I've seen both xxx
>000 (triple zero) plates and OOO ### (triple letter O). Thus, there is
>likely a OOO 000 out there somewhere. Now that Kansas plates have a
>reversed sequence, will there also be a 000 OOO? And can they be
>distinguished other than by plate background?

Kentucky does use those letters on personalized plates. Just not on
standard-issue.


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