Renewing your car registration is usually about as exciting as watching paint dry. You send in your payment, wait for the paperwork, and eventually a new sticker or plate arrives in the mail. Most drivers barely give the combination a second glance.
That changed for one Pompano Beach woman after she opened her registration renewal and found a newly issued plate that appeared to say something very different once the numbers were read as letters.
The plate reads SQZA55. On paper, it is simply a random combination of letters and numbers. From a distance, however, the two fives can resemble the letter S, making the plate look like it spells out a risqué phrase.
Nancy Dello Stritto, who is preparing to celebrate her 77th birthday, told CBS Miami that she immediately did a double take after finding the plate in her mailbox. The unusual combination soon became a topic of conversation around her retirement community, where some neighbors found it much funnier than she did.
Why a Plate Like This Can Slip Through
States generally screen personalized or vanity plate requests against lists of prohibited words and phrases. Those lists are designed to block profanity, sexual references, slurs, criminal references, and combinations that could be mistaken for police, military, or government vehicles.
Drivers are also known for trying to disguise prohibited words by swapping letters for similar-looking numbers, such as using 5 in place of S or 0 in place of O. As a result, motor vehicle agencies regularly update their restricted combinations.
Standard plates are different. They are issued from pre-generated letter-and-number sequences rather than phrases requested by individual drivers. With millions of possible combinations, an occasional plate can take on an unintended meaning when certain numbers are read as letters.
That appears to be what happened with SQZA55. There is no indication the plate was intentionally designed to spell anything suggestive. It is simply one of those combinations that looks innocent in a database and very different on the back of a car.
What To Do If You Get a Plate Like This
The good news for anyone who receives an awkward or objectionable combination is that there may be a simple fix.
Officials with the Broward County Property Tax Collector’s Office told CBS Miami that drivers who are unhappy with a plate can bring it to the office and exchange it for another one at no charge.
That means no fee and no prolonged dispute with the state, just a trip to the office for a combination that is less likely to become a conversation starter at every stoplight.
Nancy Is Taking It in Stride
For now, Dello Stritto has decided to keep the plate, although she said she plans to let the state know about the unusual combination.
She also joked that a few extra honks might not be such a bad thing at her age.
The reaction online has been similarly divided. Some people immediately see the unintended phrase, while others insist it only looks inappropriate to someone already searching for a dirty joke.
Either way, the plate has done something most registration renewals never accomplish: It has given people a reason to look twice.