Government recalls unique licence plate

The owner of the territory’s SNAFU licence plate said he can’t believe he’s being ordered to give it back.

The owner of the territory’s SNAFU licence plate said he can’t believe he’s being ordered to give it back.

“Unfortunately, SNAFU appears on our list of banned vanity plates based on ‘offensive language’ connotations,” reads the March 5 letter to Douglas Potter from the motor vehicles branch directing him to return his two plates by April 15.

The letter from vehicle registrar Robb Andison says Potter can either exchange the plates at no charge or receive a full refund.

But it also notes he can appeal the decision – and Potter plans to.

“Yeah, I like the plate,” he said in an interview Friday afternoon shortly after receiving Andison’s letter.

The Riverdale resident said he applied for the plate last spring because he has fond memories of Snafu Lake on the Atlin Road.

“It’s a great lake,” Potter said. “I have not caught too many fish there, but it is a great lake for the kids.

“That is why I got the plate; I have great memories of the lake.”

SNAFU is the American military acronym for the phrase Situation Normal; All Fu——Up. Some say Situation Normal; All Fouled Up.

Potter wonders if the SNAFU plate is on the black list, how then was it issued to him in the first place?

And, he asked, how can one ban the use of such a common name that appears in the territorial hunting guide and the fishing guide?

The Yukon government, said Potter, has named a campground after the acronym, a lake and a creek.

“The Snafu campground sign is a big freakin’ sign and they say a little licence plate is offensive,” Potter said. “Some of the plates, I understand, are offensive, but this word has been around longer than I have.”

Potter said he received his letter Friday after a friend of his tried the week before to secure a licence plate TARFU – the acronym for Things Are Really Fu——Up, or fouled up.

His friend, a regular coffee mate, thought it would be humourous to have the SNAFU and TARFU plates sitting side-by-side in the parking lot at the local coffee shop, so she applied for TARFU.

When she was turned down, she mentioned her bewilderment, particularly because her friend had been issued the SNAFU plate. A week later, Potter received his letter.

Potter said as far as he knows, the two popular lakes were named after the American military acronyms as a way of commemorating the involvement of the American army in the construction of the Alaska Highway.

The names, he suggested, were hardly considered offensive back when they were used to recognize American involvement in local highway construction.

Potter said even of the Yukon government cancels the registration of the plates, he’s going to hang onto them as keepsakes.

Yukon government officials were unavailable for comment on the situation this morning or early this afternoon.