If you ever doubted that some adults have the spirit of their inner child lurking inside, all you need to do is look at what Floridians tried to get put on their license plates.
Personalized license plates. Florida is one of many states that allow drivers to request personalized license plates or vanity plates. These plates, which usually require you to make an additional fee, include characters and numbers specifically requested by the driver and are officially considered the car’s license plate number. More than 9 million vehicles in the U.S. have personalized license plates.
The consequences of letting people choose their own license plate number. You can probably guess what comes next. After all, when’s the last time you heard an adult, who wasn’t talking to a child, refer to male genitalia as a “PP”
According to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, not everything goes. Profanity, derogatory references to a certain group of people based on factors like ethnicity or religion, references to illegal substances or acts, sexual terms, and references to acts of violence are just some examples of what’s not allowed on vanity plates.
A yearly tradition. Florida has made a tradition out of releasing a list of personalized license plate requests it’s denied. In 2024, it received applications for “P00P BUT,” “W1ENER,” “FARTZ,” and “0NLYFN.” Admittedly, while some make me laugh, others had me clutching my imaginary pearls.
Florida transportation officials have said that they reject any requests with "obscene or objectionable words”and obviously let the list speak for itself.
What the list reveals about Floridian drivers. In 2024, Florida rejected more than 200 personalized license plate requests. While it’s not appropriate to include the full list here—though if you’re interested, here it is—here are some takeaways:
- Drivers are still obsessed with male genitalia.
- They were really into the “hawk tuah” meme, which referenced oral sex. Relatedly, Haliey Welch, the girl behind the “hawk tuah” meme launched a memecoin and is being accused of running a pump-and-dump scheme after its value cratered.
- They were really into insults and telling others to go “f off”.
In other words, they are basically teenage boys. Florida transport officials don’t release information about who was denied, so I can’t corroborate that, but it’s an educated guess.
Image | Tony Alter
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