"How many people recognize the day isn't at all clear."
Not me, anyway.

Crystal briefly discusses prohibitions on words not permitted on
personalized ("vanity") plates. There have been a couple of cases here
recently -- one involving "NUTSAX" and one, amazingly, "KAREN". The
latter was actually the car owner's name, but since the name "Karen" has
been weaponized to denote a particular type of annoying person, someone
felt obliged to complain that it was offensive -- actually a
stereotypically "Karen"ish thing to do. The NZ Transport Agency, who
deal with these matters, apparently have no linguistic clues at all,
judging by the fact that they took this seriously even for a minute.

Ar an séú lá is fiche de mí Aibreán, scríobh Ross Clark:

> "How many people recognize the day isn't at all clear."
> Not me, anyway.

Not me.

> Crystal briefly discusses prohibitions on words not permitted on
> personalized ("vanity") plates. There have been a couple of cases here
> recently -- one involving "NUTSAX" and one, amazingly, "KAREN". The latter
> was actually the car owner's name, but since the name "Karen" has been
> weaponized to denote a particular type of annoying person, someone felt
> obliged to complain that it was offensive -- actually a stereotypically
> "Karen"ish thing to do. The NZ Transport Agency, who deal with these
> matters, apparently have no linguistic clues at all, judging by the fact
> that they took this seriously even for a minute.

I’m fully in favour of vanity licence (number) plates, as long as they are more
expensive than normal licence plates. They’re like patents, a revenue source
for the government that those paying for them are happy to pay. The exact
opposite of taxation.

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)