So, vanity license plates.

Whenever I see one — and I catch sight of at least one per day — part of me wonders why they’re still around. First impulse is to consider them so 1980s, and to assign the same outdated sensibility to the car/plate owner.

But then I consider: Despite 20-some years for the gee-whiz factor to fade, customized vanity plates are still effective. Because default plate numbers are an anonymous jumble of letters and numbers, a plate that spells out an actual word/phrase/name is going to stand out, and thus be memorable. Whether the aim is some level of marketing, an attempt at whimsy (as I assume the “A SINNER” plate above is), or just plain egotism, it works by breaking out of the clutter.

And sometimes, the presence of such a proprietary tag tells you to stay far away from that car’s bumper. Which is a bit ironic, considering the unspoken idea is to get close enough to actually read the thing (unless you have eagle-eye vision like me, with the aid of glasses).