En réponse à John Cowan <jcowan@...>:
>
> Oho. I never did understand why diplomatic license plates in New York
> City have "CD" embedded in them, until today. Of course, how obvious!
>
I find it funny that the expression "Corps Diplomatique" is used about
universally. A remnant of the times when French was the official diplomatic
language? :))
>
> Then there is the matter of front vs. rear plates. All states require
> rear plates, many but not all require front plates. Florida in
> particular
> requires only rear plates, and is hypervigilant about insisting on
> them
> (after only 30 days of residence in Florida, you must pay for and
> display
> a Florida plate; or if you have a child in a Florida school, there is
> no grace period at all). Since many people have dual residence in
> Florida and New York, cars with Florida rear plates and New York
> front plates are not rare.
>
Strange that front plates are not mandatory. It mustn't help the job of
policemen trying to find the responsible of a car accident who flew away...
>
> New York is on its fourth or fifth lexical structure of this kind,
> and New Jersey has had at least three.
>
At least the French system doesn't need to change that much. The effect of
adding one letter makes it possible to have quite a lot of cars with the same
system (especially since each department holds an independent count).
Christophe.
http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr
Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.