Somewhere in Greensboro, earlier in the fall, a Ford Fiesta was seen driving around town with the above vanity tag, "DONDE!? or Spanish for "WHERE." Of course, the tag begs the question, "Where, what?" When vanity tags are ordered, not only does the Division of Motor Vehicles need to make sure the requested tag doesn't mean something inappropriate in English, they need to be relatively sure there isn't an inappropriate meaning in another language.
And, language changes so quickly. As an example, if you search a crowdsourced site like Urban Dictionary, for the word "thirsty" you will learn the connotations of the word. (seeking attention on social media by posting selfies to boost self esteem. "Thirsties" are groups of people trying to get the attention, admiration, or love of the opposite sex; or, someone fishing for compliments). Even those definitions are several years old. Those meanings could have already dropped out of usage or evolved into something else. At any rate, "thirsty" means so much more than wanting a drink of water. Before you even get started thinking of the special word you want on your vanity tag, you can peruse the 201 specialized plates in North Carolina. For example, in North Carolina you can get an Auburn University, 82nd Airborne, Lion's Club, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Donate Life Organ Donor tag icon on the tag even before deciding on a word.*
If you are stuck in traffic, especially with children in the car, remember the license tag game. Unlike previous generations, this generation can snap photos of their best finds, and then set out to trace the meaning to its origin. Does anybody know the back-story on the North Carolina "DONDE!?" tag?
*see your options, here.
The exclamation and question mark are ones I can't recall ever seeing on vanity plates here.
Posted by: William Kendall | Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 11:20 AM