Vowels Now Legal in TN

[Bethany K. Dumas]

I know that most of you think that Tennessedans have too many vowels.
However, the state Department of Safety has been vowel-deprived until
recently. It has been llegal to include vowels among the letters used in
general issue license plates.

Late last year, the state ran out of possible permutations for the
3-letter, 3-no. general issue license plate combinations.

So -- the Dep't will start using "A," "E," "U," and "Y." It will not use
"I" (looks too much like "1") or "O" (looks too much like "0").

The rationale was that omitting vowels would make it harder to create
offensive plates on the basis that it's hard to create real words w/out
vowels.

Of course, those of us with "vanity" plates have always been allowed to
use vowels.

Bethany, whose plate reads "LINGWST"