Hot Town, Summer in the City....

[Seanette]

Of British vanity plates, the best one I've seen was on a Volvo 244 estate car - it must have belonged to a doctor, as the plate read F 151 SHN - if you don't get it, tell me & I'll clarify.

I'm completely stumped by this one.

[Sapphire Silk]

I work in health care and don't get it . . . so I'm sure I'll feel more than dumb when you explain it

[Jester]

Took me a moment, but I got the plate.

Read the 151 as ISI. Then you get F ISI SHN. Or, if you sound it out phonetically, you'll realize that that's a long way go go to get "physician."

What? I'm good with word puzzles.

[wolfie]

Of British vanity plates, the best one I've seen was on a Volvo 244 estate car - it must have belonged to a doctor, as the plate read F 151 SHN

Wouldn't that be a 245? Going by Volvo's naming convention at the time they used a 3-digit number with a non-zero 3rd digit, the first was the revision of the chassis, the second was the number of cylinders, and the 3rd was the number of doors (and yes, for station wagons, or "estate cars" for Brits, they counted the tailgate). Back in the '70s, my father drove a 245.

As for the plate, is the "F" supposed to be taken as the pronunciation of the "PH" pair, the 3 digits taken as similar-appearing letters (ISI), and the "SHN" taken as the pronunciation of a different set of letters (CIAN), so that the plate reads as "Physician"?

Looks like Jester posted while I was composing