Styles of Communication, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)

Abstract

Modern society is happy to invite its members to invest sense at every step, no matter how poor the sense or how trivial the investment. And it is happy to demonstrate and praise the quality of both sense and investment, hence, the uniqueness of the investors. So number (license) plates have become vehicles of meaning. In Romania, the structure of the plates facilitates semiosis. Three-letter combinations unveil automobile owners' wishes, ambitions, obsessions (power, sex, individual excellence, etc.). In order to get closer to these subjective meanings, one has to corroborate plates with the cars' power and luxury and the drivers' behavior on the road. These combinations can also reveal more promising meanings, coming from the play with words, with cultural and affective elements, etc. This play can help people develop their creative capabilities and learn ways to integrate into the society. Nothing remains but to see which investment (to assert himself / herself, to learn culture and integrate into the society by playing) is stronger.