back to article NZ woman pays motorised tribute to A RYAN 1

The New Zealand Transport Agency has declined to withdraw a woman's numberplate tribute to her ex-boyfriend, despite another motorist's complaint that ARYAN1 wasn't particularly well thought through. Lisa Marie Thompson, 32, of Upper Hutt, coughed NZ$700 for the whiter-than-white nod to Andrew Ryan four years back, and it's …

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  1. Jerry
    Happy

    If I had he dough

    I'd get a Number Plates "NO PLATES" or "ILLEGIBLE" or "MISSING"

    1. dr_forrester

      I've wanted to try...

      NULL or /0 to test the input-checking on the DMV's database. But yours is probably a bad idea, as you'll get a summons to court for all the unpaid fines of people with no, illegible, or missing plates - happened to a guy (can't recall source) who used NONE for his vanity plate.

      Actually, the one I really want is 6X9=42, if the '=' is a valid character for plates in my state, or 6X9 42 otherwise.

      1. Jerry
        Boffin

        6X9=42 ?

        I'm a computer geek and I don't get that one.

        Please elucidate.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          Don't Panic! Google is your friend. Or read a book.

          Not much of a geek, are you?

          1. Jerry
            WTF?

            Yeah but

            I've actually met Douglas Adams and have read the whole series.

            I recognise the 42, but perhaps my alcohol befuddled state has made me forget the significance of 6x9.

            Any advice appreciated.

            1. Stuart Elliott

              6X9

              Was the letters placed on the scrabble board, that the Golgafrinchams' (or decendants, I forget precise details) pulled out of the bag.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              scrabble letters

              Arthur pulled them from a knotted towel and got something that wasn't quite the ultimate question.

            3. Justin Maxwell

              You are right ...

              ... you fail. Now please leave before you embarrass yourself further.

        2. Rasczak
          Boffin

          The answer......

          ..... and the question which gives it.

          You need to read all 5 books in the trilogy though.

        3. Dave Cradle

          Geek up.

          HHGTTG

      2. Anthony Garrett

        6x9??

        Think you mean 6x7?

        1. dr_forrester
          FAIL

          @Anthony Garrett

          No, I do not. See earlier posts.

          Of course, in base 13, 6x9 really does =42, but Adams said (repeatedly, IIRC) that he did not work that out, rather he just picked a funny 2-digit number.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Zyklon

    Reminds me of a flatshare years ago with 2 mates - one a very stereotypically aryan-looking German dude and another guy of obviously Jewish extraction. Oh, the hilarity!

    It started with irreverent banter but after a few months had escalated to things like the German being barricaded into his room with planks and barbed wire ("get some of your own medicine Jew-killer!") and the installation of a fake Zyklon B tap next to the shower. Other people tended to find these gags in poor taste for some reason.

    AC, obviously.

  3. Blake St. Claire
    WTF?

    18750 is American slang?

    That's news to me.

    Google'd for "18750", which usually comes up with obscure slang I haven't heard before, and Google doesn't know it by that alone. Also Google'd for "18750 slang" and only found references to copies of the kiwi number plate article.

    During the Shrub's eight years as president I often wished I wasn't an American, but I fear I'm stuck with it, despite not knowing this bit of nonsense. Who makes this stuff up?

    1. Cupidknewrap

      same here...

      The first hits for "18750 murder" and "18750 police" are this article and nothing about slang or police radio codes anywhere to be seen.

    2. Sweep

      Title

      From my experience watching the Wire;

      187= US police code for murder. As tattooed on many a gangsta rappa.

      50 = police. Apparently (and amusingly) this comes from the Yank cop show Hawaii 5-0

      so I guess when you put 2 & 2 together.....

      1. Blake St. Claire

        Police Code? No.

        With clues from other posters I find that 187 is a reference to a section of the California Penal Code.

        A reference which has found its way into rap music, graffiti, and gang culture; and may be considered by American police to be a thinly veiled death threat in certain contexts. But a gangsta rappa [sic] with a 187 tattoo is probably just trying to insinuate that he's a badass and has done time for homicide.

        But there's no reason to expect that police, e.g. in Oklahoma or any of the 48 other states would use it in any official capacity as they have their own penal codes with presumably a different number for homicide.

        I know Ms. Bee wanted to close the subject; she can feel free to approve this or not---

        1. Jos
          Thumb Up

          Correct

          It is the penal code which defines murder.

          As for it's use, try the lyrics to flight 187 by 50cent ;-)

          Jos

    3. Trygve Henriksen

      Couldn't find it either.

      The closest I havefound is '10-108' "officer down/in need of assistance"

      http://www1.apsu.edu/oconnort/polcodes.htm

      Incidentally, I found this in the list:

      11-25 Vehicle - Traffic hazzard

      11-25X Female motorist need assistance

      No, there's no "11-25Y Male motorist need assistance"...

      1. Iain
        Coat

        Of course there isn't

        No male motorist in history has ever needed assistance

        1. heyrick Silver badge

          @ Iain

          I think you mean no male motorist in history would ever ADMIT to needing assistance.

  4. Rogerborg

    Wait, "mass" murder?

    Fair enough then, mine's the "FSY KILA" plate.

  5. Downundataker

    Meanwhile in Oz

    Someone slipped LMFAO past our motor registry in Canberra

  6. Cupidknewrap

    need to put together more tahn one bit of slang to get it.

    no hits for "18750 police" "18750 murder" other than this article and others about the kiwi plate rules.

    Although 187 is a police radio code for murder and "five-oh" is slang for police (god knows why as 50 is police code for transport).

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: need to put together more tahn one bit of slang to get it.

      Well then. I think this closes the matter. (Please stop posting about it now. Ta.)

  7. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    PIZZDA?

    OMG, Russians are everywhere...

    1. Svantevid
      Happy

      PIZZDA

      Russians? I though it was either us Croats or our Serbian neighbours.

      I wonder who in the New Zealand Transport Agency recognizes our word for cunt.

    2. Anton Ivanov
      Flame

      Maybe

      AFAIK, It means the same in Serbian as well. Bulgarian is different. Dunno about other slavic languages and there is no suitable slavic profanisaurus to refer to.

      As far as them being everywhere, that is well known. In fact one the greatest Russian 20 century poets has a very nice rant where he says something on the subject. To be more specific it refers to the writing on the wall in Parisien public conveniences...

      By the way that slipped past the censors over here in the UK. I have seen such a number plate on the M6 around Manchester and there was an old M5 series beamer for sale at the local garage over here proudly bearing a "HUI 5000" number plate.

  8. SynicNZ

    Don't for get MOTSUX

    Surrendered after just 2 weeks on the road - cannot imagine why :-)

    1. Charley 1

      Just over 4 years, actually.

      * Make: FORD

      * Model: ESCORT VAN

      * Year: 1976

      * Main colour: White

      * Second colour: Black

      * Vehicle type: Passenger Car/Van

      * Body style: Light Van

      * No of seats: 5

      * CC rating: 2,000cc

      * Fuel type: Petrol

      Plate Effective date

      SF564 1993, September 23rd

      MOTSUX 1989, September 12th

      ENEMY 1989, May 17th

  9. Kubla Cant

    I don't get it

    What's the problem with QUICKE (as in "this is a quicke car"?), 4QANC, 50KILA, H8ACC, KCUFME, OLDKNT (as in "the Old Kent Road"?).

    I can't see the obnoxious implication of these. Maybe I'm just naif. Or maybe the New Zealand Transport Agency people have prurient imaginations.

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon

      Sir

      "What's the problem with <snip> KCUFME"

      You're gnittihS ME?

    2. Stuart Elliott
      Big Brother

      For the slow readers

      Apologies in advance for stating the bleeding obvious..

      QUICKE - slack for brief sexual encounter.

      4QANC - Fuck you African National Congress.

      50KILA - 50 (as in 'Book 'em Danno', Hawaii 50) police killer.

      H8ACC - Hate ACC - (whoever they are)

      KCUFME - Fuck me

      OLDKNT - Old cunt..

      1. Kubla Cant

        Not so obvious

        "QUICKE - slack for brief sexual encounter." Er, no. The word is "quickie", and it scarcely qualifies as obscene.

        "4QANC - Fuck you African National Congress." Eh?

        "50KILA - 50 (as in 'Book 'em Danno', Hawaii 50) police killer." Bleeding obvious? Not how I'd describe a convoluted reference to a TV show last aired about 30 years ago.

        I really can't be bothered to go through all the others. They're on a par with making rude words on an upside-down calculator.

        1. Daniel B.

          50KILA

          Might have not got the 50 (the guys explained what 50 meant with the 18750 plate discussion) but "KILA" is gangsta rap for "Killer".

      2. enerider

        Re: For the slow readers

        ACC = Accident Compensation Corporation.

        The idea behind ACC is that they form an income safety net in the event of a workplace injury or injury which prevents you working. Getting this support from ACC can be a daunting task, with its own tricks and traps to snare the unwary.

        ACC do have their uses, but are largely resented as they essentially form yet another tax on one's income...an income which already has ACC levy scooped from it before you even see it (in some - if not most - cases) and has more levy scooped from it when you own a motor vehicle and need to pay to keep the plates active.

        Owners of motorbikes seen the ACC levies for registering their preferred mode of transport go through the roof, something which ACC had to backpedal a bit on after the public outcry of the levies going to rediculous levels.

  10. Sooty
    Coat

    Is not a man entitled to his numberplate

    No! says the government.

  11. Charley 1

    She's still driving it?

    http://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=aryan1

    * Licence expired 1 month 2 days ago on 31st July 2010.

    * WOF expired 1 month 2 weeks ago on 19th July 2010.

    * Last WOF inspection did not pass.

    Sounds like she's got more problems than what the plates says.

    Maybe her ex was her mechanic?

  12. Rick Berry
    Thumb Up

    I like this one...

    My favorite plate that slipped through the censors was "FTHEM" on this license plate http://www.dmv.state.va.us/exec/vehicle/splates/info.asp?idnm=TERRM

    1. Intractable Potsherd
      Happy

      Rude number plate

      A couple of years ago I almost cried with laughter when I saw a Rover 75 with the registration number DO51 FKR (yes, I changed my route to catch up with it to make sure!).

  13. Chris Miller

    A personalised plate that's actually useful

    Against automatic number recognition, anyway ...

    http://weblog.sinteur.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/mini.jpg

    1. Cheshire Cat
      Stop

      Spanish must be more permissive with plates

      Don't know about in Spain, but in the UK and NZ that plate would be illegal, as the govt specifies the font to use, the size, and that there can be no additional extraneous characters present. In the UK they even specify the spacing and positioning of the characters.

  14. Cheshire Cat
    Go

    NZ plates

    For the benefit of non-NZ people, license plates here are 6 characters or less (including Q,O,I,Z which are omitted in UK) and 5 characters or less for motorcycles and trailers (yes, trailers have their own license plates separate from the towing vehicle).

    The 'ACC' mentioned is the NZ scheme which pays for medical treatment in an accident, and for compensation claims. A bit like National Insurance payments without the pension.

    I don't follow the logic behind a lot of the banned plates, either. Recently there was a bit of a fuss when it was discovered that some license plates (deliberately) contained very rude words in Afrikaans (we have a lot of S Africans out here) so they might be tx-speak rude words in other languages.

    I wanted 'HEI MAO' (black cat in mandarin) but the wife won't let me pay the $400 to buy it :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      Re: NZ plates

      Why pay $400 when you can get plates like FKF 123 for the standard price?

  15. Dom 3

    Spanish plates.

    There are no personalised Spanish numberplates.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Spain

    The plate on that Mini is obviously a photoshop job.

  16. Anthony Garrett

    why?

    Just because the Nazis believed in aryan supremacy the mere mention of the word "aryan" suddenly becomes out of bounds! Give it a rest! Look guys, we've moved on - only brain dead idiots believe that supremacy rubbish. "Aryan" is a perfectly respectable word and should be allowed (check out its meanings in Wikipedia).

    Would I want to go round with it as a number plate... No. But that's no reason to stop someone else who would.

    1. Xelandre
      Unhappy

      In the mean time in another country...

      Number plates may be chosen in Germany within the limits of the numbering system, but this results mostly in very unimaginative combinations. No points for guessing which car makes are usually adorned by plates starting with B-MW or *-VW...

      Some letter combinations reminiscent of other times (eg: NS, KZ, SS, WH) are however very much verboten.

      This does not prevent some people showing creativeness in the wrong area...

      This plate was photographed on the Baltic coast in the parking lot of what I believe to a "Burschenschaft", a type of German student fraternity noted for its devotion to "tradition".

      http://radio-bip.qc.ca/totomobile/plaque1.jpg

      Just look up what "88" is supposed to mean within certain capillary-challenged circles, and correlate that with the leading letters. This plate is IMO no fluke, you will notice that it is too small for the holder, and set in the font used until the early 1990s, suggesting that it may have been taken over from another vehicle.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    DVLA

    I Always wanted BA 57 ARD but the dvla pulled it... Would have been too expensive anyway.

  18. Matthew 4
    FAIL

    She's from Upper Hutt...

    That explains it all

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