Owner of Lou’s Truck Isn’t Love-Struck After Erroneous Citation

Last week I spoke about personalized plates that turn out to be not so personal -- NOPLATE and MISSING, for instance.

The owners of those two received numerous parking tickets meant for other cars because “no plate” and “missing” are among the terms used by parking cops to denote missing license plates.

Anyway, it got Barbara Barnard of Santa Monica to thinking of a somewhat similar situation involving her husband.

When he drove a white Ford truck with the plate LOUSTRK, he received a warrant for unpaid parking tickets -- for a red Dodge sedan. The problem was that the Dodge’s license was LOVSTRK, the ticket was hand-written and the parking cop couldn’t print very well. So LOVSTRK was recorded as LOUSTRK.

Oh, yes. Her husband’s name is Lou, luv.

Adventures in the English language: A sign in a bus heading to the Hearst Castle (see photo) prompted former Redondo Beach resident Dick Jackson to observe: “It seems clear that it is OK to stand behind the line, even when the bus is moving. But is it saying that it’s not OK to stand on other passengers?”

Sorry for the inconvenience: On a building under construction in the Fairfax area, Mary Sue Owen of L.A. spotted a couple of signs appealing to overnight trespassers to find other sleeping arrangements (see photo).

Food for thought: Kathleen Austin of Whittier chanced upon a restaurant where you can literally clean your plate (see accompanying).

Smooth operator: Mention here of Emperor Bob Hudson prompted Jerry Feldner to recall when the prankish disc jockey would contact telephone operators and work in the lyrics from “Memphis, Tennessee.”

The conversation would sometimes go like this:

Hudson: “Long distance information, give me Memphis, Tennessee.” Operator: “Sir, this is Memphis.” H: “Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me.” O: “What is your party’s name and number?” H: “She could not leave her number but I know who placed the call.” O: “Does your party have a telephone? I can give you information.” H: “ ‘Cause my uncle took the message and he wrote it on the wall.” O: “Can you get the number from your uncle?”

Said Feldner: “He would go through the whole song if the operator did not hang up or get too frustrated to answer. Sometimes the operators almost became frantic trying to help this poor man in L.A. get ‘in touch with my Marie.’ ”

miscelLAny: The chain of stores has offered gift cards, lay-away plans and a bridal registry. So why shouldn’t a high-end operation like 99 Cents Only add valet parking to its services? (see accompanying).

Of course, the ad says it comes “with the purchase of 9 items.” I guess if you purchase fewer, you don’t get your car back.