The problem with vanity license plates is that, typically, they're more vain than clever. "CAR4MOM" or "VROOOM" or whatever. I can't recall seeing one and thinking, "'Yes! That's very cool."
Which sums up my thinking when I saw this plate in the parking lot of a trailhead at Starved Rock State Park on Thursday. While I've never had a mammogram, the process has been described to me well enough to know exactly what "Smush" refers to, and in case there were any question, the plate has the pink ribbon of breast cancer prominently displayed.
As I was admiring the plate, the owner arrived, and seemed nonplussed to find a stranger examining her car closely. That's the beauty of surviving an ordeal — you tend not to sweat the small stuff.
Karen Aldworth, of Shorewood, laughed when I asked if I could take her photo and told her the name of the blog I intended to post it on. She said yes but, being a thorough, considerate sort, I explained that once a thing goes online, you never know how people might react.
Which sums up my thinking when I saw this plate in the parking lot of a trailhead at Starved Rock State Park on Thursday. While I've never had a mammogram, the process has been described to me well enough to know exactly what "Smush" refers to, and in case there were any question, the plate has the pink ribbon of breast cancer prominently displayed.
As I was admiring the plate, the owner arrived, and seemed nonplussed to find a stranger examining her car closely. That's the beauty of surviving an ordeal — you tend not to sweat the small stuff.
Karen Aldworth, of Shorewood, laughed when I asked if I could take her photo and told her the name of the blog I intended to post it on. She said yes but, being a thorough, considerate sort, I explained that once a thing goes online, you never know how people might react.
"I don't care!" she exuded. That's the beauty of...well, you get the point. She explained the process behind coming up with the plate.
"I thought,'breast cancer survivor,'" she said, of herself. "It's a mammogram plate. I wanted something to go along with a mammogram plate."
"You immediately know what you mean," I said, citing the mark of good writing.
"You do!" she said. "Men and women both know what I mean."
"I thought,'breast cancer survivor,'" she said, of herself. "It's a mammogram plate. I wanted something to go along with a mammogram plate."
"You immediately know what you mean," I said, citing the mark of good writing.
"You do!" she said. "Men and women both know what I mean."
And she was was gone, off into the woods, hiking briskly.
She's cool!
ReplyDeletePefecto. SMUSH is the word my wife has always used to describe what a mammogram is like. And she's right. At a Cleveland Clinic open house, the procedure was demonstrated for me, by my wife and a helpful nurse (Actually, they did it ON me). And it really IS a smush. Always thought it wasn't such a BFD. I thought wrong. And I felt like a boob.
ReplyDeleteVanity plates ARE so vain. Which is why they're called vanity plates, instead of clever plates. I have seen many that made me say: "Damn! That's pretty clever!" Yiddish words, such as KVETCH and BOYCHIK. Puns...and wordplay. Saw IM1RU12 in California. When I still lived in Illinois, I had LEO NINE for a while...I was born in August. Tried to get LEO 037...it works forwards, backwards, and even upside down. No dice.
Illinois is big on vanity plates...Ohio is not. You don't see that many. They carry an expensive surcharge, and this deep-red state maintains a lengthy list of hundreds of banned words and number-letter combos, most of them sketchy...or simply obscene. People send in some pretty stupid applications, and think they're being...clever. Nope. Rejected--by the respectable gentlefolk of North Missitucky.
Example: OSU fans can't apply for H8 MICH... anything else with "H8" (hate) is taboo. Even H8 WOKE. So are curse words or sexual references. No PIZZONU. No ASS or A55. People try to slip a lot of double meanings and obscurities and foreign words and sleaze past the censors...er...the review board. Their shit list grows longer every year.
My Cub vanity plates are not a problem. Have had them for 32 years. One came off after an accident. A cop stole it. Go figure. And there have been numerous other theft attempts, both here and in Chicago. Especially in Chicago. Had to drill holes in my trunk and fasten the plates from INSIDE. Stopped doing that years ago. If they get stolen, the state will just replace them (for free, I hope). The Cubs remain very popular, even in places quite far removed from Illinois.