It is easy with single letters, e.g., B stands for Berlin, M for Munich and H for Hamburg. Well, that is wrong. Although Hamburg is bigger than Hannover, the Hanseatic citizens left the H for the smaller town, preferring HH standing for Hansestadt Hamburg.
Even though the Hanse has since long disappeared, the people of Hamburg are so proud that entering the city by car, you will read: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (The Free and the Hanseatic City of Hamburg). I really miss that road sign. During the last 30 years, I crossed the city's boundary, where I spent all my high school days only by train or plane.
In fact, three big German cities are federal states: Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen (HB for Hansestadt Bremen). Smaller cities get two letters, and my friends in Madison know that FR stands for Freiburg. Like in the States, the administrations issuing license plates let you choose the following letter-number combination (here for an extra fee of 20 euros). Below is my Freiburg license plate:
When driving along the German autobahn, you will notice that the variety of license plates is great. People like to play games with those letter combinations, So you may read BA for the city of Bamberg interpreted as blutiger Anfänger (bloody learner), GS for Goslar: genüsslich schlafend (sleeping pleasurably), WW for the district Westerwald: Wilder Westen (wild west). Three letter combinations for smaller towns are even funnier, like FFB for Fürstenfeldbruck: Fahrer fährt blöd (conductor drives stupidly), OAL for the district Ostallgäu: Ochse am Lenkrad (ox behind the wheel), and SAD for Schwandorf: sieht alles doppelt (meaning the driver is drunk).
Many letter combinations in Germany have disappeared over the last twenty years in combining small towns and districts to form larger entities. Some people are unhappy, having lost their identity like the inhabitants of Merseburg (formerly MER) now driving with new license plates QM (district of Querfurt-Merseburg).
In fact, three big German cities are federal states: Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen (HB for Hansestadt Bremen). Smaller cities get two letters, and my friends in Madison know that FR stands for Freiburg. Like in the States, the administrations issuing license plates let you choose the following letter-number combination (here for an extra fee of 20 euros). Below is my Freiburg license plate:
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| Guess what MH and 635 stand for. |
Many letter combinations in Germany have disappeared over the last twenty years in combining small towns and districts to form larger entities. Some people are unhappy, having lost their identity like the inhabitants of Merseburg (formerly MER) now driving with new license plates QM (district of Querfurt-Merseburg).
Two weeks ago, a German professor (doesn't he have anything else to do?) opened the theater to fill the famous journalistic summer hole, proposing reactivating those lost license plates. In addition, he advocated the introduction of new ones keeping people attached to their hometown happy. Forget about the Euro crisis and the war in Syria. Instead, think about new letter combinations like LOL?
Well, there is still one benefit to all this. In the future, guessing license plates on long car drives will keep grouching kids quiet, hopefully for extended periods.
Well, there is still one benefit to all this. In the future, guessing license plates on long car drives will keep grouching kids quiet, hopefully for extended periods.
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