ASSMAN vanity licence plate too offensive for Saskatchewan
The government of Saskatchewan has once again forbidden one of its residents from owning an “ASSMAN” personalized licence plate.
Railroad worker David Assman (pronounced OSSmen) of Melville, Sask., first tried to put his last name on a licence plate in the 1990s, but had it rejected as “profanity.” A recent application was again denied on the grounds that his last name is “offensive, suggestive or not in good taste.”
“I think they are too worried that people are going to have hurt feelings about something that is complete nonsense,” Assman told the National Post by direct message. “Even if it wasn’t my last name who is it going to hurt?”
Saskatchewan Government Insurance, like all provincial authorities in charge of vanity licence plates, kiboshes any applications that have a whiff of sexuality, drug reference, politics or religiosity.
“Even if a word is someone’s name and pronounced differently than the offensive version, that’s not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate,” said Saskatchewan Government Insurance spokesman Tyler McMurchy. He added that the agency generally errs on the side of caution.
Assman owes his surname to his great, great grandfather, who brought the name from Germany when he settled in Neudorf, Saskatchewan. According to HouseofNames.com, Assman derives from “ash,” an ancient Saxon word for spear. Thus, the original Assmans would have been part of a warrior clan.
Assmans are not entirely uncommon to Canada, particularly in the Prairies. A Canada-wide phone directory search turns up 22 Assmans. Ancestry.ca similarly has 23 Canadian Assmans in their database, with 10 of them living in Saskatchewan.
Most notably, the Saskatchewan capital of Regina was once home to Dick Assman, a Petro-Canada gas jockey who attained global fame due to his name.
After spotting Assman’s name in a newspaper ad, in 1995 Tonight Show host David Letterman featured the Saskatchewanian in a series of gags culminating with Assman appearing as an in-studio guest. A massive “Home of Dick Assman” sign was soon posted outside Assman’s Petro-Canada, where he often posed for photos with fans, including James Blanchard, the then-U.S. Ambassador to Canada.
Incidentally, the same year of Dick Assman’s fame, the sitcom Seinfeld would also feature a plot surrounding a New York State ‘licence plate mistakenly issued with the word “ASSMAN.”
Dick Assman continued working into his 80s, and upon his death in 2016 he was eulogized with an obituary in the New York Times.
Even before David Assman’s most recent application, Assman was already among a lengthy list of words banned by Saskatchewan Government Insurance. Curated since the 1980s, it includes “BOOB,” “PENIS,” “MR WOOD” and even “MEAT.”
“It’s constantly changing as language evolves,” said McMurchy.
Similar lists exist all across Canada. In B.C., the most commonly rejected vanity plate is “4 PLAY,” with more than 2,200 others also on the blacklist.
Given the wide breadth of potentially sexualized words in the English language, Canadian roads are indeed home to the occasional racy ‘licence plates that have evaded censors. The website BCPL8S.com notes that ICBC has approved GAMMIE and JUMMER, both obscure terms for oral sex.
McMurchy noted that licence plates remain the property of the Crown and approval can be withdrawn at any time.
As Assman told the National Post “I figured it would be rejected, but wanted to give it a try.”