FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., June 15 (UPI) — A computer trainer in Lafayette, N.C., says she was oblivious to the profane modern meaning of her license plate “WTF” until her grandchildren told her.
Mary Ann Hardee said she never thought there was a problem with her car’s plates until her teenage grandchildren let her know the initials stand for “What The (Expletive)” among text message fans, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Sunday.
“Once it was revealed to me, I developed this real self-consciousness,” the 60-year-old said.
The license plate was issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles as part of nearly 240 new letter combinations, but state officials apparently did not take the popularity of text messaging into account.
The Observer said in addition to questionable “WTF” plates, drivers may be hesitant to keep plates with “LOL” or “NME,” which translate to “Laugh Out Loud” and “Enemy,” respectively, in text messages.
The newspaper said Hardee was able to get new license plates after informing DMV officials of the issue.
Having read this, I’m finding I’m developing a real self-consciousness myself over my own plates carrying the now-shamefully obvious abbreviation “STG” which, as everyone but I apparently knew, is texting shorthand for that vicious and nasty slur “Silesians taunt gibbons”. Fortunately, after dutifully complaining to my state department of motor vehicles I’ve been assured that I and all others sporting the embarrassing sequence “STG” will promptly be issued new plates free of charge.
Darn right you should turn that in. Taunting poor Ewell this long after his death is in very poor taste.
Steve
Can you imagine what the language will look like in twenty years?
Heck, can you imagine what commicating will be like in twenty years?
The patients are taking over the asylum and it might be fun to watch/listen.
Meanwhile over in Britain, among readers of Britain’s New Musical Express who both drive and text-message, friend turns NME…
Pace steve re Gibbons, I have to mount the battlements on behalf of the celebrated chronicler of matters Roman-imperial, and one member of a Texan trio of tone whose band name
http://tinyurl.com/32xl3v
makes a handy synonym for “sleepy head”, and whose Van Winkle beard makes of Mr. Gibbons quite the Billy goat…and mark well the hair-suit irony:
“Ironically, in spite of his own surname, [drummer/percussionist Frank] Beard almost always sports just a mustache.”
Alas, does no one anymore give the noble gibbon it’s due?
Well, Phuket…does. ;-)
Language is always evolving, with people like Scott increasing the mutation rate. I wonder if we are just developing a separate digital usage language, or if this will find its way fully into the spoken word?
Steve
Although, like a Valley Girl of old, “I’m sure!” there are folks who actually exclaim the Laughing-Out-Loud acronym when amused face-to-face, I’m hoping it remains a pure LOL-e-gag, rather than common speech…
I prefer the older acronym ROTFL, mainly because I found the Hebrew equivalent of it in Genesis, where, upon being told he and his wife would have a child of their own, the centenarian Abraham “fell on his face and laughed.”
Seeing Abrahamming it up thus, one wag among the Genesi, handing him a cloth to mop his brow, came to describe it as a face-bathed initiative…