The state of Oregon has ordered a family to turn in the vanity license plates on its cars because their Dutch last name, which is written on the plates, is similar to an offensive word.
The plates UDINK1, UDINK2 and UDINK3 are on the vehicles of Mike and Shelly Udink and their son Kalei. Two of the plates are five and seven years old. One was issued last year.
Last summer, Kawika Udink's application for UDINK4 was rejected and the state ordered that the other three plates be returned.
PHOTO: AP
"'Dink' has several derogatory meanings,'' said Yvonne Bell, who sits on the Department of Motor Vehicles panel that approves vanity plates.
DMV spokesman David House and Bell said the word can be treated as a verb, which gives it a sexual reference, and also can be a racial slur targeted at Vietnamese. And House said the "U" in the front could be construed as "you."
The DMV denies requests for any combination of letters and numbers that may be viewed as objectionable or that would alarm or offend a reasonable person.
Intimate body parts or sexual or bodily functions are taboo, as are offensive references to race, color, gender, ethnic heritage, or national origin or to alcohol or drugs or paraphernalia.
The panel's ruling surprised Mike Udink, whose name is Dutch. He says it is a common last name in the Netherlands.
"Since when can a panel dictate whether your name's offensive or not?" asked Udink, a lineman for Pacific Power.
House said the state has the right to censor license plates because the state owns them.(AP)
奧勒岡州命令一戶人家將其「自選車牌」繳回，因為車牌上的荷蘭姓氏，很像一個會冒犯他人的英文字。
車牌「UDINK1」、「UDINK2」、「UDINK3」分別掛在麥可、雪莉夫婦和他們兒子卡雷的車上。其中兩張車牌已分別使用了五年和七年，另一張則是去年核發的。
但去年夏天，卡維卡申請車牌「UDINK4」卻遭拒絕，該州還命令他們繳回其他三塊車牌。
「『Dink』有好幾種貶損的意思，」依芳．貝兒說。她是監理站審核自選車牌小組成員。
監理站發言人大衛:浩斯和貝兒都說，這個字可當動詞，有性方面的涵意，它也是個針對越南人的種族歧視性字眼。浩斯說，車牌上「U」這個字母也可能被當成「you」。
監理站拒絕核發會令人不悅或冒犯一般正常人的字母、數字組合。
私密的身體部位、性或身體功能都是禁忌。其他禁忌還包括種族、膚色、性別、族裔身份、出生國籍，或酒精、毒品、大麻煙具。
該小組的決定讓麥可．優丁十分驚訝。優丁是荷蘭姓氏，他說這個姓氏在荷蘭很普遍。
優丁問︰「這個小組從什麼時候起，擁有判定你的姓氏是否令人不爽的權力？」他是太平洋電力的架線工。
浩斯則說該州有權查禁車牌，因為車牌皆為該州所有。（美聯社／翻譯：張愛弟）
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