SNAFU will be permitted to stay, and TARFU is on its way.

Riverdale resident Douglas Potter will be able to keep his SNAFU licence plate following a decision late Wednesday.

As well, his friend can apply for her TARFU plate, government spokesman Matt King told the Star this morning.

King said in light of the public attention drawn by the government's decision to recall the plate because of its profane language connotations, the registrar of motor vehicles decided to review the matter, even without an appeal being filed by Potter.

He said registrar Dan Boyd made the decision late Wednesday, and Potter was notified this morning. So was Potter's friend, who recently applied for but was denied the use of the TARFU acronym for her licence plate.

Last spring, Potter applied for and received his SNAFU plate. However, he was sent a letter last Friday ordering him to return the plate by April 15 because of its "offensive language” connotations.

He received the letter about a week after his friend was denied TARFU.

Both SNAFU and TARFU appear on a "blue list” of licence plate language which is prohibited for a variety of reasons, from profane language to racial slurs.

SNAFU is the military acronym for Situation Normal; All F----- Up. Some say Situation Normal; All Fouled Up.

TARFU: Things Are Really Fu----Up, or fouled up.

FROGGY, for instance, is on the list, as well as SALT because it's known to describe the drug heroin in a powder form.

The blue list is 51 pages long, with more than 3,000 prohibited plates.

King explained Tuesday SNAFU is on the list and the plate had been issued by mistake.

The list, however, is fluid and could evolve with the times, King added, suggesting that Potter may have been successful if he appealed the order to return the plate.

"The registrar of motor vehicles decided that SNAFU and TARFU should come off the so-called ‘blue list' because they are common place names in the Yukon that are recognized as names of bodies of water and areas in the Yukon,” King said.

Rather than wait and go through the appeal process, King added, Boyd decided to visit the issue immediately.

The government decision to recall the SNAFU plate has sparked ample discussion on the street.

Most of it has suggested the recall didn't make sense, since there is the Snafu Lake and the Snafu Campground on the Atlin Road, right next to Tarfu Lake and the Tarfu Campground.

"I'm happy about it,” an obviously-pleased Potter said this morning. "Luckily, I didn't have to appeal.”

While Potter will continue to drive with his SNAFU plate on his vehicle, his friend is also the proud new owner of the TARFU plate after Potter went down to the motor vehicles branch and paid for it and her plate this morning, since she's working today.

"(We) wanted to make sure nobody else got the (TARFU) plate,” Potter said.

It seemed silly of the government not to allow the names of two popular lakes in the territory to be used on personalized licence plates, he added.

Most people, he said, didn't even notice his plate, and those who did usually connected it with Snafu Lake, rather than its acronym.

Many, like himself until recently, have never heard of the acronym.

It wasn't until a while after he moved up here and had been going to the lake – the name of which is featured on government signs, campground and hunting guides – for years that he learned of the acronym, he pointed out.

It was his good memories of fishing and camping there that made him decide to pay the $132 last spring for a personalized licence plate bearing the SNAFU lettering.

"Nobody really noticed the plate,” he said, adding that more people had asked him about the large winch on his truck that he uses for hunting than about the plate.

"I'm just glad they accepted it. It's been around for years,” he said, as he launched into a discussion about one of his favourite spots in the territory.

"It's a wonderful lake system,” he said.

Potter recently bought a canoe to make his way through the narrow sections that are difficult to get through in a larger boat.

"It's a fabulous lake for a canoe.”

While Potter had been ready to fight the government's decision to take back the plate, he did offer praise to the territory for the great job it does in keeping the Snafu campground in good condition.

"I really encourage people to go out there and go fishing,” he said.

By Stephanie Waddell

and Chuck Tobin

Star Reporters