We live in an age where information is too available. We have more facts than we can assimilate or use, and very little context.

One of the ways we manage to transmit all of this information comes from research done in “packing” of information. How much can we compress data, then “unpack” it later without appreciable loss?

I won’t go into that as a deep dive now, don’t worry. But it is something to consider, especially when “packing” of data means that individual pieces now mean multiple things depending upon what is around them.

The other day, I saw a license plate. Maybe it’s indicative that I spend too much time playing with letters and numbers and glyphs in my brain, but almost immediately I saw how close this was to spelling out a word (and a word that I wouldn’t want either of my kids repeating.)

Do you see it? Because the thought that came to mind for me was feeling sorry for the person two places ahead in line. They likely got this plate:

There.

Does that make it easier to see?

Do I have to spell it out now?

What happens is our brains decode the curves and lines based on context. When we expect to see letters, we see letters. When we expect to see numbers, we see numbers.

And when we’re accustomed to looking at words, the quickest glance will force our brains attempt to fit those shapes into the anticipated context.

Here, try this one.

See it now?

I feel sorry for that person.

One of the ironies here is that if you tried to go and get that specific combination as a vanity plate, you would be suspiciously grilled as to your motive. They would want to know exactly what it means.

Yet, through the power of spontaneous decoding, the state of Alabama has inadvertently called an innocent motorist a “sphincter.”

Who knows? Maybe they’re right.

Or maybe ugliness lies in the eye of the beholder.