WTF? NC Offers to Replace 10,000 License Plates 467
beadfulthings writes "In light of recent discussions about the Internet habits of the older generation, it's comforting to know that in North Carolina, up to 10,000 license plates containing the potentially offensive 3-letter WTF combination will be replaced by the Motor Vehicles division at no cost — if the owner of the vehicle finds the plates offensive. As reported on Winston-Salem's television station WXII, the MVD was alerted to the problem by an irate 60-year-old technology teacher who'd been clued in by her grandchildren. The article includes a helpful slide show of twenty Internet acronyms every parent should know. The article doesn't include any information on how you could actually apply for a WTF license plate."
Discount! (Score:2, Informative)
etc.. away with a discount.
Well people are nuts.
Those administration too, what should people do when being named "Dick" ?
sue their parents ?
or can such names be banned to get registered for birth certificate ?
I cant get it anymore those people dont have a life, they should get one.
The list doesn't help (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So let me get this straight... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, from reading the article, this sounds like it might be a standard practice: If you have an issue with the randomly-assigned number you are given you can take it in and get a new one. The specific letters are just what brought the issue to this newspaper's attention.
So, in other words, this is non-news.
Re:Liberal Extremism..... (Score:2, Informative)
--even though there are technically only three races--
Um.... Last I checked man, there was the *HUMAN* race. So, I'm not sure what "3" you're talking about.
Re:Heh (Score:3, Informative)
I'm writing this at 1920x14
40. The problem is, I use
this resolution, in part, bec
ause I want to see more o
n the screen. I'd say the t
ext box is taking up mayb
e 1/8 th of the window, foll
owed by nothing for 7/8th
of the screen. What a was
te of space.
Initialism (Score:4, Informative)
Re:damn, they think that was bad! (Score:5, Informative)
AC/DC is the name of a band (who the GP is apparently a fan of) and also a slang term for bisexual.
I think it's the message, not the word (Score:3, Informative)
While the word itself is no worse than any other word, I think it's the conveyed hostility that gets people's panties in a knot.
A word is just a word, and conveys no more and no less meaning that is assigned to it. That one word is obscene or offensive and another isn't, is, well, just because we needed to designate some words as offensive or obscene. Because essentially we needed to communicate just that message.
Even if you designed a language without swearwords, people will invent their own. See how people constructed a few for Esperanto.
But what gets people angry is the message, not the word. If I were to say, "You stupid arsehole!", it's not the individual words (after all, an arsehole is a vital part of the body;), it's the conveyed aggressive stance and intention to insult, demean, and diminish one's perceived worth.
And just as proof that it's not just the words: it can be done without words too. We already know from, say, MUD's and MMOs, that people get equally insulted when they're met with unwarranted hatred and aggression, out of nowhere. Almost everyone hates a ganker, even the other gankers that happen to end up on the wrong end of it, even if he doesn't say a single word.
It's that hostility which puts people in the only mode we're biologically programmed to use to deal with aggression: fight or flight. Once it's been triggered, well, you can override it by willpower, but essentially your programming says you either fight or go away from the source of the stress. If you're "cornered" and can't leave, you fight back. Verbally or otherwise. If you can't do either, you get frustrated.
At any rate, I don't think there is much of a qualitative difference between being called a "doodoo head" or a "cocksucker". The former is the child version of "I'm being aggressive and trying to demean you", the latter is the adult version. Different words, but the message is the same, and the reaction is the same.
As for why swearing is more acceptable today, I'd say that award should probably go to Hollywood. Everyone knows they're supposed to say "fuck" every other word. You can see the same in other countries too, albeit with different words, expressions, attitudes, etc. People find role models on the screen, and try to talk and act like them.
I wouldn't set my hopes too high, though. If a good, "fuck you, cocksucker" becomes devalued and useless to convey the insult as a message, we'll switch to other words. Or invent new words for that purpose.
The best you can do is just get people to play nice, and stop trying to act like aggressive chronic cases of testosterone poisoning. Not to get them to get over some words. If it's just the words, see the previous paragraph ;)
Maybe stopping beating up children can help with that. But it'll be just because it stops teaching them early that violence is the solution to everything, the way to get anything done, and that when they grow up they have to be an aggressive arsehole like their dad too. It'll be the change in role models and attitudes, that will matter in the end, not just being allowed to say "fuck." Words come and go and can be invented or shanghaied for any purpose, including for verbal aggression. What'll make a difference is people not needing a hostile stance and message as often.
Re:Heh (Score:4, Informative)
You guys do know that you can set the width and height of the reply box using that "Options" button beneath it, right?
I've set it to 80x25 once, and that was that...
np: Lyrics Born - Do U Buy It? (Everywhere At Once)
Re:Way To Fail (Score:4, Informative)
You are aware that the French are partially responsible for the American Revolutionary War victory George Washington scored over the British, right?
Americans really should learn more history, even their own would help them to navigate the currents of this world's events.
Re:Way To Fail (Score:3, Informative)
What's all that obsession with the French?
Is it because they are too small to bite us back?
Free to have their own thoughts and culture, different from ours?
It's easy to pick on your little brother, more difficult to do the same on a real bully.
Maybe that's why we like to kid the French, while the Chinese scare us...
I pick on them because when I traveled in Europe they were dicks. I spent 9 months going all around Europe, being the best visitor I could be. I traveled through GB, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Italy, East Germany and France. In all those places, except France, I was treated well, with a few exceptions. In France, I was treated rudely and poorly, with a few exceptions.
I treated the French, and everybody else, with respect. The French were rude enough to not return my respect.
Not because of their politics, but because of how I was treated, I say the French can kiss my ass. I mock them regularly.