Re: CHAT: postcodes

John writes:

>Roger Mills scripsit:
>
>>  A permanent number would certainly simplify life-- here in the US, we have
>>  to renew our plates every year, for a price of course;
>
>No, not everywhere.  In the Northeast, plates are only changed when the
>owner changes, and there is an inspection sticker on the windshield that
>changes annually.
I'm not a native, but I moved to RI a year and a half ago. My
inspection sticker (which includes the dreaded emissions test) is
good for two years. Plates were only good for one year, I have since
renewed for the little new sticker, and it's now good for two years
as well. I suspect it involved some sort of residency requirements.
Of course, now that I'm a bona fide resident, I'm getting raped with
excise tax, which was not true my first year.

>  > Vaguely ObConlang/Conculture:  There are so few privately owned vehicles on
>>  Cindu that I suspect they will get by with a simple numeric system
>
>That's what Rhode Island (the smallest state) does.
Again, not a native, but the majority of plates I've seen are two
letters followed by a space and three digits. Much less frequently
are six straight digits. I asked the Spanish teacher, who is an RI
native, her thoughts, and she agreed with me, but added that low
numbers are some perverse mark of prestige, so that AG 16, for
example, would mean that you were "old Rhode Island", that you were
well-connected, or that you were fellating the director of your local
RI DMV. Apparently you can request them if they're available and they
don't count as vanity plates.

Kou