Assman won't be denied: After rejecting his license plate request, man gets giant 'ASSMAN' decal

Dave's an Assman and he's bloody well proud of it. The Melville man's last name is Assman and he's got an oversized decal on the back of his vehicle and there's nothing the government can do about it. Dave Assman tried to get a vanity license plate reading 'Assman' but his requests were repeatedly denied by the Saskatchewan Government Insurance. Not to be outdone, he went ahead and got a giant vanity plate bearing his name painted on the tailgate of his white Dodge Ram pickup truck, and is being cheered online, reported Vice News. Assman, pronounced OSS-men, is proud of his family name. 

After the initial rejection, he appealed SGI’s decision but got was rejected once again, within four hours this time. He decided enough was enough and painted his name at the back in big block letters. Alongside his name, he also included the word “Saskatchewan” and the provincial motto, “Land of Living Skies,” written out. “I could have got a plate for the front but I really wanted a vanity plate on the back of my truck!” wrote Assman in a social media post that has since been taken down. “See, I hate to say it but I’m kinda a sarcastic ass and well I just wanted to go big!” he said later. He also painted out four dots at the end of the letters to make it look like four bolt openings that are often used to attach license plates to vehicles.

He first put his name on a license plate in the 1990s but his application was then rejected, with the SGI citing “profanity.” SGI is responsible for vanity plates and has a list of reasons to reject applications for vanity plates including anything related to sexuality, drug references, politics, or religion. SGI is very particular about it and has a list of rejected vanity plates that's 85 pages long.

His recent applications were denied on the grounds that it was “offensive, suggestive or not in good taste.” Assman said having his name on the nameplate shouldn't really be an issue. “I think they are too worried that people are going to have hurt feelings about something that is complete nonsense,” Assman told the National Post. “Even if it wasn’t my last name who is it going to hurt?”

SGI spokesman Tyler McMurchy defended the decision to reject Assman's application. “Even if a word is someone’s name and pronounced differently than the offensive version, that’s not something that would be apparent to other motorists who will see the plate,” said McMurchy. To be fair to them, SGI tipped their cap to Assman after he painted his name out in block letters on the tailgate of his Ram pickup truck. SGI's official Twitter account posted, “All’s well that ends well,” along with a smiley-face emoji.

Dick Assman was another person to wear his name proud. He shot into fame after late-night talk show host David Letterman featured him as a guest and did a string of jokes on his name. He became so popular that the Petro-Canada gas station where he worked had a giant sign with his name emblazoned on it. He passed away in 2016 and was even memorialized in the New York Times.