Highway Bureau Selects 25 Sets of Inappropriate Homophone License Plates for Public Vote Starting the 24th

(Central News Agency, Taipei, June 24) Whether the English letters on a license plate have special meanings or inappropriate associations may affect the public's willingness to choose them. The Highway Bureau has compiled a list of 25 sets of homophones or inappropriate license plates from the English code range planned for production in the next two years. A public vote will be held starting tomorrow to serve as a reference for plate production.

Currently, vehicle license plates consist of three English letters and four numbers, issued on a one-plate-one-number basis regardless of vehicle type. The consideration of whether the spelling of English letters has meaning or inappropriate homophones is related to factors such as culture and the environment of the time, and preferences vary from person to person.

To gather opinions from all sectors, the Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, issued a press release stating that an opinion survey will be available on the Motor Vehicles Service website from tomorrow until August 25.

The Highway Bureau pointed out that to facilitate public participation, the planned English code range for license plates in the next two years (this time from CLB to CQB, PPZ to PTF, RGY to RHE, ECF to ECR) has been compiled. Some meaningful or homophonic codes have been pre-selected, such as CNS (National Standard; certification mark), CPU (Central Processing Unit), RGY (inappropriate homophone for GY), totaling 25 English codes.

Others include CLP (Taiwanese Hokkien, meaning 'dead and gone'), CNN (abbreviation for news media), CPR (abbreviation for cardiopulmonary resuscitation), CPY (inappropriate homophone; 'chā pì yǎn'), PRC (abbreviation for the People's Republic of China), CNY (code for Chinese Yuan), and so on.

If the public has other suggestions for codes not listed in the survey scope during the survey, they can also provide their opinions for the Highway Bureau's reference.

The Highway Bureau stated that the survey results will be incorporated into the consideration for the production of English license plate codes. Homophonic or inappropriate license plates that the public dislikes will be temporarily reserved and not produced. The public is welcome to actively express their opinions on the Motor Vehicles Service website. (Editor: Chang Ming-kun) 1150624

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