TO be honest I think it is much ado about nothing.
SHow me your O with his hands in an O is a pretty neat deal that has nothing to do with an O FACE in my mind. I might actually start doing that when someone in London or Atlanta yells "Go Bobcats!" at random tmes.....or even when some idiot sees me in Ohio gear and yells....O H! . I will just hold my hands up and show him my O.
You are an old fuddy duddy.....if you want to know where this comes from I submit the following. I applied for a particular license for my motorcycle (SPLOOE) and gave documentation as to where it came from . It was denied and I responded to the secreatary of state with the following and then his minion's reply came leaving me supremely pissed off and scurrying for ammunition which I am still gathering. Old fuddy duddies think too much about what the massess dont even put together.
Dear Mr Waddell
I am not in the habit of writing authorities but this is beyond insanity. I am appealing to you in hopes that our state government is a bit more informed and streamlined when people go out of their way to document and provide background for requests. When it is all there in front of them and the employee fails to act accordingly citizens need to have their voice heard.
I requested a vanity plate SPLOOE which is an abreviated a form of SPLOOIE which exists as a plate on alumni of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle corps in many states including the Home of Drum Corps International, Indiana I was sent an auto tag which expired 7/6 to replace my motorcycle tag which expired 7/1 along with a letter for appeal procedure. The letter explained the word had a vulgar meaning. An auto tag to hang on my bike? The state trooper laughed and also laughed when he found that it had a 5 day grace "as if anything happens in government in 5 days"
I directed them to this website for the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle corps and to the traditions page which explained the nature of the word. I printed all the materials for resubmission. I also looked in the Urban Dictionary which defines the word Splooie as meaning "have a nice day" . Surely we do not want drivers looking up the meaning to find out that the motorcyclist was wishing them a nice day do we?
Today I received a plate in the mail ....after putting over 2000 miles on the temp tag from Ilinois to Ohio ....my new plate is M871 KG. Obviously the employee still finds something vulgar in the word Splooie. I am appalled.
I am personally inviting you (and the lunatic plate czar sitting in a dark office arbitrarily denying plates even well documented ones) to visit withthe young men who make up this organization when they make it to Indy for the World Championship at Lucas Oil when they come to town in August. When they yell SPLOOIE on the starting line to honor 60 years of Cavaliers who came before them you and your appointed czar of vanity plates might rethnk what you consider vulgar.
Sorry for having to trouble you with this but at some level government needs to be accountable. Thanks very much for your attention.
Dr Thomas E Freeman II
I got back this reply and am currently contemplating my next move. My uncle is an English professor in the IU system and has shared this with many of the profs there who have had a heydey with it.
Dr. Freeman:
BMV Commissioner Scott Waddell asked me to research the issue about your personalized license plate and reply on his behalf.
The BMV has a committee to review all requests for Personalized License Plates (PLP). I sit on that committee and have been amazed at the ways applicants attempt to disguise vulgar, obscene and other offensive words. One of the most common ways is to use slang phrases, texting abbreviations and other slight variations of these words. In addition to the committee members’ personal review of the requests, we have use resources such as the Urban Dictionary to identify problems.
An unfortunate result of this review is that requests innocently submitted by some people are too similar to an unacceptable phrases or words. We err on the side of keeping the “bad stuff” off the plates and deny the “innocent” ones. This is certainly the situation with your plate. The word “splooey” is slang for a human excretion and your request for “splooe” is just too close to be allowed. I hope that you can appreciate our dilemma.
Concerning the temporary tag, we did send you an auto tag instead of a motorcycle tag in error.
If you have any further questions, please contact me directly.
Dennis L. Rosebrough
Deputy Commissioner - External Affairs
Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles
SO yeah....I think we as adults make much too much of double meanings and try to read much too much into things even when we are presented with materials. One letter off....coupld be Splooie (which already is in Use in IN) or Splooey .....Splooe actually has no meaning in any dictionary which further negates the point.
From now on ....I show my O