Political correctness in Australia reaches new depths

Courtesy of the RTA, this time.

IT had been a term of endearment which had cemented links with her Greek heritage and first adorned her cars more than five years ago following a loving gift from her husband.

But the nickname Kiki, given to lawyer Kristen Perry before she could even walk, has now put her in hot water with the Roads and Traffic Authority because her number plate also translates into a term for female genitals in the Filipino language of Tagalog.

‘‘I rang my father last night and said: ‘Do you know you have been calling me vagina all my life?’,’’ she said.

‘‘He just said ‘What?’ He was appalled.’’

Mrs Perry has been left flabbergasted after being sent a ‘‘please explain’’, the RTA threatening to confiscate the number plate if she did not ‘‘show cause’’ within a fortnight.

When questioned by the Newcastle Herald yesterday, an RTA spokeswoman said one person had complained that the plates were insulting to the Filipino language so Mrs Perry and another motorist, who also had ‘‘Kiki’’ featured, were issued notices.

So, because one person - one person! - complained that the plates feature a word that is offensive and in a language other than the one spoken in Australia besides (can any of our Pinoy denizens please confirm that, by the way?), this is a problem that Mrs Perry must rectify immediately? Ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe the situation.

Attention: IF YOUR NAME IS DICK, PLEASE CHANGE IT. THANK YOU.

This is stupid.

This stuff happens all the time.


http://jalopnik.com/#!5724684

According to poster WHOWANTSBEEF at Reddit, he's the owner of the infamous "EATTHE Kids First" license plate floating around the internet for years. Unfortunately for him, someone complained his plate was advocating something beyond hilarious cannibalism:

I received a second letter saying that I would then be going into a sort court hearing about it over the phone. There would be me, a DMV representative and a mediator. Long story short I had my ass handed to me and had no defense.

In the end I asked how many people complained and what they complained about exactly, since I was under the impression it was being taken away because of cannibalism concerns. I was told they received something like 4 letters and 7 phone calls. All of them generic "I'm offended and my right to not be offended trumps everything!!!". The DMV then had a private round table meeting with something like 13 people in the meeting... JUST to discuss my plate.

On their own, they came to the conclusion that my plate advocated oral sex on children

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/04/08/ ... 239221493/

The Colorado Department of Revenue rejected a woman's request for a license plate professing her love of tofu over concerns that it could be seen as obscene.

Officials said Kelley Coffman-Lee's request for a personalized plate with the phrase "ILVTOFU" was rejected due to concerns that it could be misread as "I-LV-TO-F-U," KMGH-TV, Denver, reported Wednesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05132.html

The owner of a Ford truck bearing the license plate 14CV88 will have to find a new message after the DMV on Wednesday canceled its earlier approval of that series of letters and numbers.

...

A photo of the truck hit the Web a few days ago, went viral on car and other blogs and finally came to the attention of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group for American Muslims. On Wednesday morning, the group complained to the DMV that the plate contained a white supremacist and neo-Nazi statement.

A few hours later, the DMV agreed that the plate contains a coded message: The number 88 stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, doubled to signify "Heil Hitler," said CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper. "CV" stands for "Confederate veteran" -- the plate was a special model embossed with a Confederate flag, which Virginia makes available for a $10 fee to card-carrying members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. And 14 is code for imprisoned white supremacist David Lane's 14-word motto: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

...

Hooper at first thought the picture was a Photoshopped hoax. But when he called the DMV and discovered the plate was registered in 2005 to a Ford F-150 pickup truck, Hooper started to worry.

"If the license plate had been on a VW Beetle with nothing else on it, or a Volvo station wagon, no one would probably have noticed," said Hooper. "But when the Confederate flag is thrown in . . . it shows the convergence of anti-government and anti-Islamic sentiments that unfortunately seem to be growing."

...

Story says the numbers 14 and 88 on his plate were not references to a white power slogan or "Heil Hitler," as the Council on American-Islamic Relations theorized, but an homage to his favorite NASCAR drivers: Tony Stewart, who drives car No. 14, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who drives No. 88.

Story applied for the vanity plate in March 2009, shortly after Earnhardt changed his car number from 8 to 88 and Stewart changed his from 20 to 14.

Clearly, some people have way too much time on their hands to concern themselves with these matters.

in oregon there was a guy with the last name Dink but he couldn't put it on a plate for his business because it's somehow an offensive term for Vietnamese people.

"Kiki" is indeed pussy in Tagalog.

Did I read it right that someone complained because it was offensive? I assuming it must be a FIlipino that complained. This is really ridiculous.

Stupid Filipinos.

Pinoys not satisfied with ruining their own country are now coming after ours

Did I read it right that someone complained because it was offensive? I assuming it must be a FIlipino that complained. This is really ridiculous.

That's right, just one person. Seems to me such a complaint should be dismissed given the circumstances - different country and context, not offending the public in general - but then nobody would be able to throw their weight around and get uppity and apparently we can't have that.

I wonder what's going to happen to Kiki Vandeweghe now....

Well, we already knew he was a pussy. Just look at the lack of effort in this video:

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