In reference to the NCAA moving the ACC championships out of North Carolina (hence known as NOT Carolina!).

And to preserve the sanctity of the Lounge from controversial subjects I propose we create a special board to be called the
Kumquat Board where all manner of controversial issues can be argued about.

Why Kumquat?


"Lori Ann Phillips named her Toyota RAV4 “Kumquat” 12 years ago, when she first moved to North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Phillips)
The name game started with Lori Ann Phillips’ first car, a red Toyota Camry.

A friend in high school said her first set of wheels needed an identity, a moniker to make it unique.

Phillips decided on Peaches.

Between her teens and early 20s — through high school and college in her home state of Pennsylvania — she cycled through two more vehicles, each with their own fruit-themed names.

Mango was a maroon Jeep Wrangler.

Papaya was a white Ford F-150 truck.

So when it came time to leave her hometown of Wilkes-Barre 12 years ago and venture to North Carolina, Phillips loaded her belongings into a brand new Toyota RAV4 and pondered what tropical fruit she could appropriate next.

Gwyneth Paltrow had just given birth to her daughter, so Apple was out of the question, and if she wanted to put the new name on a personalized license plate, could a fruit like strawberry even fit?

Eventually Phillips stumbled upon the “little gems” of the citrus family, a fruit she had not tasted but whose name was too quirky to pass up.

From then on, her RAV4 was known as Kumquat.

For more than a decade and 216,000 miles, Phillips drove her silver SUV with the “KUMQUAT” license plate without incident. It would solicit occasional gawks at gas stations, and sometimes people would snap photos at stoplights. But nobody ever complained.

Kumquat is, after all, just a fruit.

Then last week, Phillips got the letter.

“This correspondence is in reference to the personalized license plate KUMQUAT,” Sherry Lee, a supervisor with the North Carolina Department of Transportation, wrote Aug. 25. “We are in receipt of complaints stating that the plate is offensive and in poor taste.”

It gave her 30 days to craft a written statement explaining what the word Kumquat means to her.

And if she didn’t, according to the letter, the DOT would revoke her plate.

Phillips was dumbfounded."


In reference to the personalized license plate ... - Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../in-reference-to-the-personalize...The Washington Post
Sep 7, 2016 - Lori Ann Phillips named her Toyota RAV4 “Kumquat” 12 years ago, when she first moved to North Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Lori Ann Phillips).
In the end she prevailed.

[Post edited by VaAkita at 09/14/2016 10:29PM]