Country Code Stickers Are Not Cool (And Never Really Had Been) [lame and anal]
You've all seen them. Those ovals with the enigmatic letter abbreviations on the back of vehicles. They exist for FR, E, D, R, CC, NYC, SLC, FPT, ADK, PL, VT, DIX, and many others, including probably your neighborhood, even if there's only five people living there.
Originally, these stickers were used in Europe to allow for recognition of the country of origin of various vehicles, much the way that distinctive state license plates are used in the US. It was a practical solution to a practical problem.
But as time went by various persons who had been working in Europe would come back to the US with cars with the USA stickers. So, some cheese-loving socially conscious twit decided that he'd be cooler if he could imply he, or his car, had been to Europe. And you started to see a few more of those Euro style country codes. Usually FR or E. Then, because people are idiots, and couldn't figure out what was going on with the stickers, they started spelling out the country names - such as France or England. Which kinda defeated the whole purpose of the fake stickers - if it's an in-club thing, having to explain it makes it pretty clear you're not part of the club.
Then some clever merchandising asshole somewhere decided it would be cool to claim that their region or state was as cool as a European country. I believe it was first done by Cape Cod, but I can't prove that. And now, in the intervening years, the silly things have multiplied to be utterly banal, and completely stupid.
Let me offer you a clue: If you're claiming that your fucking village is a separate country, you're an idiot. Hell, if you're claiming that your favorite state park is a separate country, you're an idiot.
For that matter, trying to get people to believe that your Hummer has been to France, or Poland, or Russia is even stupider. Shipping the stupid thing round trip would probably cost more than it's worth!
Seeing the pretentious putting these things on their cars annoys me far more than Jesus fish, or Darwin fish, or even the "In case of Rapture, this vehicle will be unoccupied." Those are just idiot signs. These stupid country code stickers are pretentious idiot signs. Can we just outlaw these damned things?
(Yes, every code that I listed is one I've seen in the recent past. Including the one for FPT - the village of Fairport, NY.)
