Thursday, April 9, 2009

ILVTOFU

I don't have a vanity plate because I haven't been able to think of anything I feel strongly enough about to want to announce to the world. I enjoy, though, sitting at a stop light trying to figure out the plate ahead of me and wondering what happened in their life that made them want to put that on a license tag. A news item this morning struck me as pretty funny, although to the woman who made the request and was turned down, I'm sure it wasn't the least bit funny.

Seems that the Colorado Department of Revenue rejected her request for a license plate professing her love of tofu over concerns that it could be seen as obscene. Her request for a personalized plate with the phrase "ILVTOFU" was rejected due to concerns that it could be misread as "I-LV-TO-F-U."

Did you know there are rules against certain letter combinations? F-U is one such combination.

"I love tofu; it doesn't mean anything bad," she said of her license plate request. "I'm very expressive, I'm anti-fur, anti-rodeo, anti-circus when they come to Denver and I thought here's a chance to be positive and say I love something."

5 comments:

Juleah said...

When I read your title I had mis read it as I-LV-TO-FU. So I can understand where the confusion would come in. I am actually very impressed and glad that there are restrictions set in place to avoid this problem. I could already see a few years down the road my kids and I traveling and coming across this. My kids would probably be in the back seat laughing and I would be ticked off that this could happen. Another thing, the girl should be grateful of this discovery because it has avoided her a bunch crazy stares and valgur remarks from men who agree:)

Suzie-Q said...

I'm with you, J. The whole explaning things to kids who are always asking what that means is something most people don't think about. I'm glad there are rules too.

Sarah in Disturbia said...

I completely disagree!!!! What about freedom of speech and expression!!! That is just one thing that (used to) make our country great. At least before Obama was elected. Who cares what you think or misread?? If someone wants to profess their love for tofu they shouldn't be censored by those that misread it or don't want to explain things to their children. Give me an f*$&#g break.

Juleah said...

Calm down supermama. It was only my opinion ....remember, "freedom of speech";) ****Most importantly it should be about being respectful to those around you. So I would argue that the issue is not about freedom of speech but lack of respect. People are so selfish thinking only of themselves and not even giving thought to how their choices can negatively affect others. This country doesn't need more freedom of speech, it needs more respect for each other.

Sarah in Disturbia said...

I am catching up and responding late so I don't know if Juleah will read my response but this country was built on certain tenets that many take for granted. The fact that you, and others different from you, have religious freedom is just as important as others having the freedom to express themselves in many other ways. I definitely do not object to you expressing yourself but the topic at hand was placing restrictions on one's freedom. My objection was to the "rules" that one group/gov't agency decides are right or wrong. Being respectful to others around you also entails respecting that others have different "rules" and that you may not agree with them and should not be allowed to shut them up because they cause you "problems".