Colorado DMV Takes Stand Against Offensive License Plates

Wouldn't you love to have one of those awesome Colorado vanity license plates? Imagine the personalized message you could transmit to every motorist you encounter. As you can imagine, some personalized concepts don't make it past the friendly and helpful clerk at the DMV.

From time to time an encoded message fails to slip past the powers that be. Those vanity plate applications wind up on the "Restricted List." That list is then made available to the public. Here's a look at a view vanity place applications that didn't make the cut last year (2022).

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Rules When It Comes To Colorado Personalized Plates In Colorado

When ordering personalized plates, there are a number of guidelines you must follow. According to wikiHow they include:

• maximum of seven characters (six for motorcycles)
• must have at least five characters if your selection has numbers only
• must have at least two characters if your selection has letters or numbers and letters
• cannot include any "forbidden" combinations
• cannot carry an offensive or misleading meaning

When applying, you'll be asked to submit five options for your personalized plate. They'll be reviewed in the order listed. You'll receive the first one that meets the criteria above and isn't already in use.

Repeat Offenders

Check out the gallery below and you'll spot a few familiar themes. In other words, people will try and try again to sneak one past the system. Some of the applications rejected in late 2022 are identical to applications submitted in past years.

Some More Obvious Than Others

A few of the failed attempts from late 2022 are incredibly obvious. A few take a little research. To figure out some, you'll need to consult the Urban Dictionary, or in some cases, whip out your Porn to English dictionary.

Since this is a family-friendly page and needs to remain "Safe for Work," the more vulgar attempts at plates have been omitted from this list, too.

Acronym Vs. Initialism

When designing your vanity plate, it's important to know the difference between an acronym and an initialism. According to Writer's Digest, an acronym is a type of abbreviation that uses the first letters of words in a phrase to make a new word. For example, "LASER" is an acronym for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Initialism, on the other hand, is a type of abbreviation that uses the first letters of words in a phrase to make a term, which may or may not be pronounced as a new word.

No Matter How You Get There, You Still Have To Behave

As you can imagine, some applications simply don't make the grade. Some applicants are clever and almost succeed in getting their message across while simultaneously covering their tracks. Most, however, don't slip by. Here's a look at those who were busted by the man towards the end of the calendar year 2022.