Possible offensive number plate
 

Evening,

Am planning on departing Darwin NT for Dilli Timor Leste in a couple of months on RTW trip.

I'm after thoughts on the possibility of the number plate on my 1200GSA which is PIG offending or causing me problems in any Muslim countries of which I'll be travelling a few.

Just thought I'd ask the question, I don't know anything about the religion and if there is a chance of causing offence I will change it.

Cheers

Josh

Better hope there aren't any Muslim or Jewish traffic police in Darwin then.

Been ok in Darwin mate, might be thinking to much of it but thought I'd ask the question

You're worried about PIG? Maybe I should get paranoid about my KN OB 69 plate!

I doubt you'll have any trouble though.

Hi Josh:

If the characters PIG are part of a larger string of letters & numbers (for example, 123PIG or PIG789), then I would not worry too much, I can't imagine that any official or citizen would be concerned or offended by that.

On the other hand, if the licence plate consists of nothing other than the three letters PIG, then I think it might be prudent to change it.

Michael

I'd change it, at least because if it were mine I'd be *thinking* about whether it might be found offensive, and that alone would make me uncomfortable. Why add discomfort to a long journey? Plus: if I'm uncomfortable at borders and traffic stops, people in uniform are going to recognize that and check me out more carefully as a result. Why add to what are already sometimes exhausting periods standing by the roadside in ridiculous heat, over-dressed in riding clothes, boots and armor?

If you'll be spending any time at all in the USA, be aware that such a plate will almost certainly be taken as offensive by police (of any religion). To me, this seems far more likely than any risk in Muslim countries which use different languages and (often) alphabets. And American police can indeed cause you a lot of difficulty.

Just my thoughts, and of course YMMV.

Mark

Think I might just change, easy to do now-not so on the road.

Pic of plate;

Change it.

If you are thinking of it now, it will worry you during your trip. Not worth the worry.

:D

Would "they" (the population of the countries you're visiting) be concerned about offending YOU in your own country with a stangley worded plate?
I doubt they'd even give the slightest concern over it (be that due to total unawareness or total ignorance), so why should you worry?

Think up a phrase that PIG stands for.

Put that in little letters beneath it on the plate.

IE: Perfection Integrity Grateful

Meaningless but something you can point to if asked.

:thumbup1:

doh

I am not saying the plate will cause offence. But there is the uncertainty and that can be enough to make you nervous and being nervous is something officials are trained to pick up on.

And then if the person takes some indication from the plate ... it can sway their option of whether they do a full customs inspection, issue a traffic ticket or impound the vehicle ... or just scratches your paint work in passing.

You want to appear to be 'one of them' .. a plain ordinary person .. possibly doing something adventurous but not someone causing any offence.

i find it incredulous that people think a muslim would be offended by a person having a plate that says PIG. muslims are not offended by pigs. they simply dont eat pork, as jews dont. muslims do not find the animal itself offensive.

this is political correctness gone MAD

I totally agree. Why start a trip with negative thoughts when you can help it ?

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Not a question of political correctness ... but a question of someone's feelings. And individual people can be very fixed in their ways .. however we might regard their view.

• In some cultures talking to someone with your toes pointed at them is offensive
• In some cultures wearing swimmers is regarded as wearing underwear and an insult that can result in arrest, detention and imprisonment Budgy Nine Warn Aussie Travellers About 'Cultural Differences' As They Return To Australia
• As for pigs .. well British Publisher Bans Pigs and Pork Products From Kids' Books ...Too Offensive to Muslims
• Short pants are also regarded as offensive in some places.

Best to 'fit in' as a visitor, if you confront these difference the result may well be unpleasant. Most will be tolerant of the stranger not knowing, but that said travellers should take their lead from the locals - do what they do. Much like the road rules .. if you do something like what the locals do you should be ok. You are a minority in another's territory, avoiding offence is good manners.

There are lots of cultural differences .. one of the reasons why we travel. Respect it and it may remain for the next generation of travellers.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, as much as would like to leave the plate on I think I will change it out.

I could go the whole trip and not have an issue, but there is the chance that I may get into a situation because of the plate, I don't want to bring any more attention to my self then I need to so I think it prudent to do.

I don't know a thing about the religion, however I have seen how situations can become heated rather quickly in some countries, I don't wish that to happen.

Thank you to all that replied, I am currently in the process of selling everything and hoping to get away either just before or just after Xmas.

Regards

Josh

You will probably have more problems convincing officials that the plate is real than you will dealing with offended people.
A combination of letters and numbers will look more "official".

A large smile and patience go a long way. Particularly patience. Have a great trip.

My plate reads

Y***
AZZ

Standard UK black letters on yellow just like it came from the dealers.

I have a cartoon of the Bender robot from Futurama on the top box as in "kiss my shiney metal azz". No one has noticed yet.

Is that plate standard? If not I'd get a plate where the pig bit stands out less. It's the plod it'll wind up, they've the time to give you hassle, most people of any religion have got better things to do.

Andy

Andy,

Yes that's a standard size plate in the Northern Territory, actually I'm pretty sure it's standard size right across Oz. The PIG plate was ordered by myself and is not a standard of the shelf offering, standard plates are a letter and then numbers.

Josh

i'm not gonna fight about this, but to quote one of the articles YOU cited:

"The Jewish Leadership Council said in response that “Jewish law prohibits eating pork, not the mention of the word, or the animal from which it derives.”


British-Muslim Labor MP Khalid Mahmood was also quoted by the Mail as saying, “I absolutely agree. That’s absolute utter nonsense. And when people go too far, that brings the whole discussion into disrepute.”"


nuff said.

A few years ago a British expat acquaintance of mine had the New York vanity plate WANKR on one of his American bikes.

No idea why I'm mentioning this, but at this current time it seems like a good idea.

You have more chance to get shot by a traffic cop in the US with your PIG plate than to offend anyone in the rest of the world... So don't worry.

PS Try to avoid vegan areas too ;-)

Perhaps, but in Israel there a large number of Russian jews eating pork like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention that I have many Muslim friends who eat pork, chicken, beef, duck, you name it. So, the world is not necessarely how the ultra religious portray it.

Russian Jews Eat Pork | Russians' taste of home offends religious Jews - tribunedigital-baltimoresun

"BEIT SHEMESH, Israel - The shelves of Borris Yoffe's butcher shop brim with delicacies of Eastern Europe, from tins of black caviar to bottles of Romanian cabernet. And the meat case has what thousands of Russian immigrants in Israel long for - choice cuts of pork."


"I love Israel," said one of Yoffe's loyal customers, Berta Shipira, 65, who grew up outside Moscow. "People should leave us alone and let us eat what we want. I am Jewish, and I like eating pork. I eat what I like."

A PIG licence plate could be offensive to vegetarians... Just don't get stopped by a jewish vegetarian cop. Try "Pussy" as a license plate but don't get caught by a feminist female cop. And the list goes one. Basically, just do what you want. ;-)

I haven't met any muslim friends on the road who would find that offensive, nor would any muslim authorities i'd come across have this issue.

British cops though, bloody norah! They would be offended, you'd have to bend over the bonnet for that my friend...

Ask Jeremy Clarkson about number plate sensitivity in Argentina…

Spyderco makes a knife called the Police. The original model had PIG etched on the blade. When the blade was folded closed it read PIG. When folded open, it read as shown below.

Regarding the plate, id change it, just for the ease of mind. Nothing to do with political correctness, but not worth worrying about.

http://i13.tinypic.com/2w7j1ww.jpg

Beat me to it!

^^^^ O/T... I have a spyderco knife (amongst others), lovely bit of kit! bier

In the US, the cops would think that you are also a cop, which means no tickets.

Might work elsewhere too! Good point :thumbup1:

Once you get outside English speaking areas people probably wouldn't associate your registration plate with the animal in question.

As for Clarkson, taking a well known TV show with full crew through Argentina showing a numberplate H982 FKL (1982 Falklands) was never going to end well, and he got what he'd been asking for.

That said I'd go with the other guys, if it makes you feel uneasy you won't enjoy the journey, so change it.

Thanks for your nice post to teach us more in this field. After reading on here, we can learn more in this topic.

Good on you for asking the question, even if it resulted in some heated moral discussion!

I think it's fair enough to want to check whether you're being sensitive/insensitive even if others with more experience in that area might find it a silly question. Hopefully you got the answer you needed.

Best of luck on your journey and I hope you're well received wherever you go, number plate or not.

:mchappy:

By the way, could you sell it for a few extra trip dollars? Might be good to advertise it on ADVRider or one of the ADV Facebook groups if so.