Personalized Plates

As the Memorial Day Weekend arrives, it signals the start of people going down the Cape for short trips. My family is planning to use our beach house with regularity this year and as the self-appointed caretaker of the place, I wanted to make sure it was all set for the season. So, I ventured down this morning to make sure that everything was as in order as could be expected.

Traffic had already started to thicken up as I made the cross over route 24. That stretch of road dips from 3 lanes to 2 so you can't move around the slow cars as easily, and I was forced to reduce my speed and gather in with the rest of the people slowly making their way to the Bourne bridge (suckers, I get off before that and save myself tons of traffic). Since I was going slower I was able to take in some of the sights to my left and right and noticed quite a few personalized license plates. Seems like it must be easier to order them, cause every other car had one.

When it comes to the personalized license plate, I feel that's a tricky line to toe. It is much like the bumper sticker. As the hilarious Demetri Martin once said, "I like those cars that have the entire back covered with bumper stickers. It's a shortcut. It's like a giant sign that says "Let's not hang out. Ever." One or two is ok, anything more than that is excessive. With license plates you can risk giving away too much info about yourself or setting your fellow motorist up for a fall. For example, if your plate says FXY LDY, then you had damn well be foxy and a lady. When I pull up next to that car, I do not want to be greeted by a dude with more facial hair than me.

Whatever you want it to read, though, you should put it into a form other people could understand. The whole point of a personalized plate is to be notice, after all, so making it a word game that people have to guess at 80 mph is a pretty easy way to ensure you wasted your time thinking it up.