License Plates

My kids came up with this game wherein you try to make a word or phrase (even if it's a nonsensical word or phrase) out of a license plate. It's similar to the LEET speak popular with Kids Today®, in that numerals can be substituted for letters, thusly:

0 = O (duh)

1 = I or L (or more accurately, lower case l)

2 = Z

3 = E

4 = A

5 = S

6 = G

7 = T

8 = B

9 = P

(I know, that last one's a bit of stretch - 9 looks more like lower-case g to me, but since all the other numerals stand in for capital letters [except for 1] and 6 is a more natural choice for a G, I suppose it makes sense. After all, many people easily accept 3 for E, even though it would really be a backward E)

Since I drive a bus all day, I have a lot of opportunity to observe license plates, and little enough mental stimulation that I need something to do to distract myself from the inane ramblings of my passengers. So I've been playing the Rimptingon License Plate® game a lot lately. Here in Cally, most license plates follow the pattern of "numeral-three letters-three numerals". A lot of times I can usually only get a partial word out of the first three or four characters. One was "6AYS" or "GAYS". One of the funniest was "5TFU" or "STFU" (Shut The Fuck Up).

I finally got a phrase out of all seven characters on a plate the other day, albeit it was a nonsense phrase. The plate was "5TAG846", rendering "STAGBAG". I have no idea what a stag bag is, but I like it.